A 5% compulsory license. From Africa and from Asia, I’ve heard many calls to keep royalties fair. Corporate giants like Cisco and Intel, who collect relatively few royalties, quietly agree. Royalties paid in poor nations overwhelmingly flow to rich countries, not a good result. If those royalties are high, so much the worse.
See Fairness for Africa: Cheaper Transit, Reasonable Royalties, Fair Taxes
America has been the strongest supporter of high royalties, partly because of a patent system unprepared for goods like cellphones with literally hundreds of claims. That is starting to change, as Chinese companies, particularly Huawei, are now filing more patents than the U.S. giants. The U.S. share of patents is about 25% and falling. We will soon have a negative balance on patent accounts.
Carlos Slim of Telmex tells me that $50 smartphones will result in two billion more people connected. But $50 smartphones are impossible with the level of royalties demanded by powerful companies.