Patent Pool Formation as a Social Dilemma

Résumé du livre

This paper extends the Cournot-Shapiro model to provide a tractable model of voluntary patent pool formation among standard essential patent holders. We assume that patent holders have complementary patents for a standard. We first show that the existence of a path of voluntary patent pool formation heavily depends on demand for patent licenses and that no such path exists in linear demand examples. Next, we extend our model to consist of two rival standards that are substitutable and compete `a la Bertrand competition. We show that while a large patent pool benefits both patent holders and licensees, it is not provided voluntarily. Our analysis suggests that the presence of a rival standard may facilitate voluntary patent pool formation.