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. Authors: Eric J. Iversen, Nifu Step, Norway & The Australian Innovation Research Centre, University of Tasmania. Rudi Bekkers, Dialogic innovatie & interactie. The Netherlands. Knut Blind, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research. Germany *This is a discussion paper for the Dime Conference: Intellectual property rights for Business and Society. London, 14-15. It is a preliminary version. Acknowledgements. This paper comes out of the EU 6 FP Specific Targeted Research Project, INTEREST. ““It is not enough to consider IP rights in a vacuum; we must consider them as they are actually used in practice. And that means considering how SSO rules affect IP incentives in different industries.” Lemley 2002: 2.