Intellectual Property Rights, Strategic Technology Agreements and Market Structure, The Case of GSM

This paper investigates the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in shaping the GSM industry. Thisindustry is an example of a high-tech industry in which standards play a large role. In the process ofdesigning the GSM standard, a lot of attention has been given to IPRs, mainly to avoid a situation inwhich a single IPR holder could hamper or even totally block the development of the standard.Nevertheless, the ultimate GSM standard contains a large amount of so-called ‘essential IPRs’, i.e., IPRswithout which the implementation of GSM products is impossible.The paper starts with a general discussion of the development of GSM, and the role of firm strategy andIPRs in this process. Next, we present a database on the essential IPRs in the GSM standard. This databasehas been compiled on the basis of international patent statistics, and the data that manufacturers havesupplied to ETSI, the European standardization body responsible for defining the GSM standard. We usethis database to assess the dynamic IPR position of firms in the original GSM standard and its subsequentdevelopment.economics of technology ;

Emerging coordination mechanisms for multi-party IPR holders: linking research with standardization

The standards setting process relies to an increasing degree on successfully integrating up-to-date research and development results (R&D). The successful interaction between research and standards can provide important social benefits. But, to do so, a number of challenges need to be faced. One key and persistent challenge is to provide the conditions in which the cross-purposes of formal standards-setting bodies and intellectual property rights can equitably be accommodated. This means balancing the collective gains to be reaped from the elaboration of a common standard against the individual gains to be allocated to relevant individual rights-holders. This discussion paper focuses on approaches to the reemerging tension between intellectual-property-rights and standards. It points to the importance that successful approaches can have to improve the interaction the between research and standardization activities. It then goes on to consider the (re)emergence of two approaches that are indicative of the changing relationship between intellectual property rights and standards-setting bodies

Intellectual property rights, strategic technology agreements and market structure : the case of the GSM

This paper investigates the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in shaping the GSM industry. This industry is an example of a high-tech industry in which standards play a large role. In the process of designing the GSM standard, a lot of attention has been given to IPRs, mainly to avoid a situation in which a single IPR holder could hamper or even totally block the development of the standard. Nevertheless, the ultimate GSM standard contains a large amount of so-called ‘essential IPRs’, i.e., IPRs without which the implementation of GSM products is impossible. The paper starts with a general discussion of the development of GSM, and the role of firm strategy and IPRs in this process. Next, we present a database on the essential IPRs in the GSM standard. This database has been compiled on the basis of international patent statistics, and the data that manufacturers have supplied to ETSI, the European standardization body responsible for defining the GSM standard. We use this database to assess the dynamic IPR position of firms in the original GSM standard and its subsequent development. In a next part of our analysis, we relate the firm’s IPR position to the trends in strategic technology agreements in the mobile telecommunications field. We ask the question whether firms that are powerful in terms of IPRs are also the firms that are ‘central’ in the technology agreements network (or vice versa). We also investigate whether developments over time in the technology agreements data follow from the dynamic movements in the IPR position of a firm, and which other factors play a role in this

Standards as a driving force that influences emerging technological trajectories in the converging world of the Internet and things: An investigation of the M2M/IoT patent network

While standards are said to create windows of opportunity in facilitation of technological convergence, it is not clear how they affect technological trajectories and strategic choices of firms in the face of convergence and in the process of catch-up. There is little research on the relationship between standards and technological trajectories, particularly in the age of convergence. This paper investigates how standards shape the emerging M2M/IoT technological trajectory and influence convergence in terms of technological importance and diversity. We, firstly, found that standards are a driving force of technological convergence. The second finding is that 3GPP standards assume a crucial role in setting the boundary conditions of the M2M/IoT technological systems. Third, we identified strategic groups and strategic patents that centered around the M2M/IoT trajectory. Forth, standards serve as an important factor in the process of creating a new path for catch-up firms (e.g. Huawei). These findings make contributions to innovation and standards studies by empirically examining the relationship between technological trajectories and standards. Furthermore, they clearly cast light on ongoing cooperation and competition along the M2M/IoT trajectory, and offer practical implications for catch-up strategies

Limitation to Innovation in the North American Console Video Game Industry 2001-2013: A Critical Analysis

In today\u27s marketplace the ability to innovate is considered a key driver of success and economic prosperity (Florida, 2002; Howkins, 2001). From an innovation perspective, video game development has often been viewed as an exemplary case of a creative digital industry whose products and services are quickly consumed and hence require a constant flow of new content. This dissertation reviews innovation in the video game industry more critically. After examining the main lines of contemporary innovation theory, it proposes a model of the innovation process in the development cycle of console video games, evaluating the roles of three principle actors: consumers, publishers and developers. It then shows how, while the interaction of these stakeholders sometimes results in original new products and services, it also often fails to do so and indeed can actually impede truly creative innovation. The study aims to dispel popular myths about the embrace of innovation by the video game industry and contribute to the debate on the role of innovation in today\u27s post-industrial economy

The Technical Standardization Ecosystem and Institutional Decision Making: The Case of Intellectual Property Rights Policies

In this paper, we analyze decision making on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policies in the standardization ecosystem. While a large literature has studied IPR policies of Standard Developing Organizations (SDOs), we contribute a more rigorous analysis of how these IPR policies are shaped by the interdependencies between SDOs and between SDOs and a variety of stakeholders. While SDO stakeholders often have opposing policy preferences, they are tied together by non-generic complementarities and a joint interest in the overall performance of the standardization system, which are constitutive characteristics of an ecosystem. The standardization ecosystem is characterized by widely shared institutional norms, which – in the field of IPR – result in the preponderance of what we call a “Baseline Policy”. SDOs’ positions in the ecosystem contributes to explain where in the ecosystem institutional innovations going beyond the Baseline Policy are more likely to arise. We analyze different mechanisms of transmission of such novel practices, such as emulation and precedent