A Better Route to Tech Standards

Prestandard price commitments, as well as government intervention, may help patent licensing and standard setting. Technological standards are ubiquitous, whether they allow consumers to communicate seamlessly across wireless networks or manufacturers to procure goods across complex global supply ch...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2014-02, Vol.343 (6174), p.972-973
Main Authors: Lerner, Josh, Tirole, Jean
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
High tech industries
POLICY FORUM
Technology standards
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Prestandard price commitments, as well as government intervention, may help patent licensing and standard setting. Technological standards are ubiquitous, whether they allow consumers to communicate seamlessly across wireless networks or manufacturers to procure goods across complex global supply chains. These standards—shaped by standard-setting organizations (SSOs) and participating engineers, academics, lawyers, and executives—in turn shape how new technologies evolve, specifying rules for how standard-compliant products must work and interact with other components. This standardization process is under tremendous stress. Many disputes roiling courts and administrative bodies around the world—such as those involving Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung—concern commitments made during the standardization process and the ways that firms have sought to “game” the system. We explore why the system is breaking down and propose a way in which standard setting could be redesigned to address these problems.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1246439