Expertise

New Technologies

Carter Eltzroth is at the forefront of legal issues relating to technology development and implementation, intellectual property and licensing, and competition/antitrust and other regulatory concerns, within the United States, Europe and emerging economies. His expertise is a result of senior positions within, and representation of, technology providers, implementers, and standards bodies. He has been active in legal issues related to digital video broadcasting (DVB, Canal+,  FilmNet/MIH and World Bank), encryption and conditional access (Irdeto, AEPOC), 802.11 “WiFi” (IEEE), and ICT applied to the Smart Grid (Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, NRECA).  

Intellectual Property

He has developed and managed patent (and other IP) licensing programs. For licensors, Carter Eltzroth has developed and implemented successful licensing programs for DVB’s Common Scrambling Algorithm, and its policy to foster the formation of licensing programs (patent pools) covering patents essential to DVB standards. He has applied these skills within IEEE and other standards bodies. Among other IPR activities, he formed and served as initial Executive Director of the Association européenne pour la protection des oeuvres et services cryptés (AEPOC, now AAPA), and has been named Arbitrator by the WIPO. He has taught Patents and Standards as an adjunct Professor of Law at American University, Washington.

Dispute Resolution

Carter Eltzroth is an arbitrator named by the World Intellectual Property Organization, notably on the adjudication of disputes covering standard essential patents.  He assisted WIPO in its promotion of its new facility for the resolution of SEP disputes. He is the author of “Arbitration of IPR Disputes”, published in IBA Arbitration News. The DVB is noteworthy for its long-standing requirement as part of its IPR policy that licensing disputes over patents essential to DVB standards are to be resolved by arbitration. He is also an arbitrator named by the ROSE Arbitration platform. Early in his career Carter Eltzroth served as a law clerk in the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Chicago).

Standards Development, SDO Management

Carter Eltzroth serves as Legal Director, DVB Project and has worked actively for IEEE and Smart Grid Interoperability Panel. In addition to governance, advisory and lobbying tasks, he has developed, implemented and managed evolution of DVB’s IPR policy and DVB’s governance rules and procedures. For DVB and in other settings, he is responsible for compliance with antitrust and other regulation.

Public Policy

Based on his in-depth knowledge of the EU legal framework and institutions, Carter Eltzroth has been a key participant in alliance formation and advocacy before EU institutions, leading to adoption of European directives and other Community action. He has also represented clients before institutions in China and other emerging markets and served in the leadership of associations advancing regulatory agendas, including AEPOC, WEF, GBDe, GIIC and ACT. He is a frequent writer and speaker on standards and patents, broadcasting and development and copyright in emerging markets and the author of Patent Pooling:  Licensing Standardised Technology (forthcoming).

Corporate, Transactional

Carter Eltzroth has been engaged in the formation and governance of, and transactions related to, corporations in financial, manufacturing, retail, regulated industry and other sectors; corporate finance, including initial public offerings (and continuing compliance under US securities laws) of foreign private issuers (eg British Telecom), leveraged lease and other bank finance; counselling on contractual and regulatory structure, and negotiation, of digital chain for launch of DVB services over cable and satellite; development and implementation of novel corporate and operational structures to exploit regulatory arbitrage for service provision (FilmNet in Poland; pay-TV services in Italy).

International

During a decade in Brussels, Carter Eltzroth opened the office for a US law firm and later served as general counsel for a European pay television service. He has represented multilateral institutions (World Bank, WIPO) on broadcast regulation and IPR issues in developing states. Over 12 years, he represented a South African pay television technology group, including in Asia and Africa. Carter Eltzroth has also spent six years of his education in Europe, including in Paris (Baccalauréat), and Oxford (BA/MA). He is a former interpreter for the US Department of State and a dual US/Belgian national