FRAND

FRAND stands for "fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory."

It is a term used for patent licensing agreements. When patents are made available under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, it usually means low licensing costs as well as little or no restrictions on the use of the technology that is patented.

FRAND terms usually come into play when dealing with patents essential to an industry standard. Certain technologies, such as wireless communications, could be covered by thousands of essential patents. All owners of the patents agree to make licensing options available on FRAND terms.