The interrelationship between IPR and standardisation: patterns and policies

Abstract

This paper takes a fresh and comprehensive look at how intellectual property rights (IPR) interact with formal standardisation activities. The interaction of these two institutions is integral to the working of the innovation infrastructure. Since the 1980s, this has especially been true for industries involving strong network effects where an increasing level of tension and conflict has been noted. The importance of the relationship and the tendency for the interaction to lead to conflict is however not necessarily confined to information and communication technologies, which has been the focus until now. The paper works from the premise that the interaction between IPRs and standardisation involves a more general strain in the innovation system and that this strain potentially has implications that extend well beyond a single industry. In this light, the paper extends and broadens the existing analysis of this relationship in several fundamental ways. The paper's major contribution to the mainly theoretical treatment in the current literature is a two-pronged empirical analysis involving a survey and a set of 20 case-studies across a set of industries. This exploratory empirical approach provides an initial look at the potential for conflict in other industries where the balance between the importance of standardisation and the importance of patenting differ. The results from the complementary survey and case study work are then used to categorise the type of problems that emerge in a set of industries. In conclusion the paper discusses a set of policy approaches to the emerging problem in Europe.