§ 171.303 Licensing exception—When will an actor's practice to license interoperability elements in order for electronic health information to be accessed, exchanged, or used not be considered information blocking? An actor's practice to license interoperability elements for electronic health information to be accessed, exchanged, or used will not be considered information blocking when the practice meets all of the following conditions. ( a ) *Negotiating a license conditions.* Upon receiving a request to license an interoperability element for the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information, the actor must— ( 1 ) Begin license negotiations with the requestor within 10 business days from receipt of the request; and
( 2 ) Negotiate a license with the requestor, subject to the licensing conditions in paragraph (b) of this section, within 30 business days from receipt of the request.
( b ) *Licensing conditions.* The license provided for the interoperability element(s) needed to access, exchange, or use electronic health information must meet the following conditions: ( 1 ) *Scope of rights.* The license must provide all rights necessary to: ( i ) Enable the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information; and
( ii ) Achieve the intended access, exchange, or use of electronic health information via the interoperability element(s).
( 2 ) *Reasonable royalty.* If the actor charges a royalty for the use of the interoperability elements described in paragraph (a) of this section, the royalty must be reasonable and comply with the following requirements: ( i ) The royalty must be nondiscriminatory, consistent with paragraph (b)(3) of this section.
( ii ) The royalty must be based solely on the independent value of the actor's technology to the licensee's products, not on any strategic value stemming from the actor's control over essential means of accessing, exchanging, or using electronic health information.
( iii ) If the actor has licensed the interoperability element through a standards developing organization in accordance with such organization's policies regarding the licensing of standards-essential technologies on terms consistent with those in this exception, the actor may charge a royalty that is consistent with such policies.
( iv ) An actor may not charge a royalty for intellectual property if the actor recovered any development costs pursuant to § 171.302 that led to the creation of the intellectual property.
( 3 ) *Non-discriminatory terms.* The terms (including royalty terms) on which the actor licenses and otherwise provides the interoperability elements must be non-discriminatory and comply with the following requirements: ( i ) The terms must be based on objective and verifiable criteria that are uniformly applied for all similarly situated classes of persons and requests.
( ii ) The terms must not be based in any part on— ( A ) Whether the requestor or other person is a competitor, potential competitor, or will be using electronic health information obtained via the interoperability elements in a way that facilitates competition with the actor; or
( B ) The revenue or other value the requestor may derive from access, exchange, or use of electronic health information obtained via the interoperability elements.
( 4 ) *Collateral terms.* The actor must not require the licensee or its agents or contractors to do, or to agree to do, any of the following— ( i ) Not compete with the actor in any product, service, or market.
( ii ) Deal exclusively with the actor in any product, service, or market.
( iii ) Obtain additional licenses, products, or services that are not related to or can be unbundled from the requested interoperability elements.
( iv ) License, grant, assign, or transfer to the actor any intellectual property of the licensee.
( v ) Pay a fee of any kind whatsoever, except as described in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, unless the practice meets the requirements of the exception in § 171.302.
( 5 ) *Non-disclosure agreement.* The actor may require a reasonable non-disclosure agreement that is no broader than necessary to prevent unauthorized disclosure of the actor's trade secrets, provided— ( i ) The agreement states with particularity all information the actor claims as trade secrets; and
( ii ) Such information meets the definition of a trade secret under applicable law.
( c ) *Additional conditions relating to the provision of interoperability elements.* The actor must not engage in any practice that has any of the following purposes or effects. ( 1 ) Impeding the efficient use of the interoperability elements to access, exchange, or use electronic health information for any permissible purpose.
( 2 ) Impeding the efficient development, distribution, deployment, or use of an interoperable product or service for which there is actual or potential demand.
( 3 ) Degrading the performance or interoperability of the licensee's products or services, unless necessary to improve the actor's technology and after affording the licensee a reasonable opportunity to update its technology to maintain interoperability.
[85 FR 25955, May 1, 2020, as amended at 85 FR 70085, Nov. 4, 2020]