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Who Cooperates In Standards Consortia—Rivals Or Complementors?

Author

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  • Justus Baron
  • Tim Pohlmann

Abstract

Formal standard development is increasingly supplemented by standards consortia: informal and less inclusive alliances, in which firms coordinate standard-related research and development (“R&D”) and streamline standard development. In order to cast light on the economic function of these consortia, this article provides empirical evidence on the standards related to informal consortia, and on the R&D contributions of members and outsiders. We find that standards related to consortia are characterized by a more fragmented ownership of intellectual property rights (“IPR”) and a strong degree of technological rivalry. We also find that among the firms contributing to a standard, technological specialists are less likely to be member of a consortium. Companies are more likely to be members of the same consortium with companies specializing in R&D that is substitutable rather than complementary to their own patent portfolio. One possible interpretation of these findings is that a main benefit of standards consortia is to reduce the cost of standard development by eliminating wasteful R&D duplication and settling conflicts of interest upfront to formal standardization.

Suggested Citation

  • Justus Baron & Tim Pohlmann, 2013. "Who Cooperates In Standards Consortia—Rivals Or Complementors?," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(4), pages 905-929.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jcomle:v:9:y:2013:i:4:p:905-929.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/joclec/nht034
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Wiegmann, Paul Moritz & Eggers, Felix & de Vries, Henk J. & Blind, Knut, 2022. "Competing Standard-Setting Organizations: A Choice Experiment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    2. Meurs, Henk & Sharmeen, Fariya & Marchau, Vincent & van der Heijden, Rob, 2020. "Organizing integrated services in mobility-as-a-service systems: Principles of alliance formation applied to a MaaS-pilot in the Netherlands," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 178-195.
    3. Gaurav Kankanhalli & Alan Kwan, 2024. "Bargaining power in the market for intellectual property: Evidence from licensing contract terms," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(1), pages 109-173, March.
    4. Jiaming Jiang & Rajeev K. Goel & Xingyuan Zhang, 2020. "IPR policies and determinants of membership in Standard Setting Organizations: a social network analysis," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 129-154, December.
    5. Justus Baron & Jorge Contreras & Martin Husovec & Pierre Larouche, 2019. "Making the Rules: The Governance of Standard Development Organizations and their Policies on Intellectual Property Rights," JRC Research Reports JRC115004, Joint Research Centre.
    6. Justus Baron & Daniel F. Spulber, 2018. "Technology Standards and Standard Setting Organizations: Introduction to the Searle Center Database," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 462-503, September.
    7. Teubner, Lisa K. & Henkel, Joachim & Bekkers, Rudi, 2021. "Industry consortia in mobile telecommunications standards setting: Purpose, organization and diversity," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3).
    8. Lampert, Hodaya & Wettstein, David, 2020. "Patents and pools in pyramidal innovation structures," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

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