Participation in setting technology standards and the implied cost of equity

This study empirically investigates the financial market's reaction to firms’ participation in standard setting organizations (SSOs) in terms of firms’ implied cost of equity capital – the discount rate applied by investors to a firm's expected future cash flows. Our analysis utilizes a panel of 3350 US public firms and their membership of 183 SSOs operating in a range of technology domains between 1996 and 2014. It shows a significantly lower cost of equity for SSO participants. We then empirically document a causal link between SSO membership and a firm's cost of equity, by exploiting exogenous variations in membership count linked to SSO closures and an instrumental variable measuring SSO availability. Our results underscore the important role of SSO membership in mitigating the perceived riskiness of a firm, particularly when it faces high degrees of technological uncertainty, product-market uncertainty, and information asymmetry.     

Membership,governance, and lobbying in standard-setting organizations

Standard-setting organizations (SSOs) are collectively self-governed industry associations, formed by innovators and implementers. They are a key organizational form to agree on and manage technical standards, and form the foundation for many technological and economic sectors. We develop a model of endogeneous SSO participation that highlights different incentives for joining (namely licensing, learning, and implementation). We analyze equilibrium selection and conduct comparative statics for a policy parameter that is related to implementer-friendly Intellectual Property Rights policies, or alternatively, minimum viable implementation. The results can reconcile existing evidence, including that many SSO member firms are small. The extent of statutory participation of implementers in SSO control has an inverted U-shape effect on industry profits and welfare.     

标准化组织专利政策采用事先披露原则的利弊分析及改进模式探讨

技术标准涉及专利的对外许可一直都是在标准制定完成之后由专利权人或标准化组织与使用方谈判确定。VITA推出的新专利政策中在世界范围内第一次采用了事先披露原则,要求专利权人在标准制定之前,不仅要披露专利信息,还需披露许可条件。虽然这一专利政策草案通过了美国司法部的反垄断审查,但依然引起广泛争议。本文对事先披露原则的利弊进行了分析,在此基础上探讨了对事先披露许可费模式的改进思路——由标准化组织事先披露总许可费率的模式。     

技术标准创立中的专利引用网络研究

随着技术构成的复杂化,技术标准涉及的必要专利迅速膨胀,形成了重叠交织的专利群。以WCDMA标准及其必要专利为研究样本,采用Ucinet6.0软件,以中心度为测度指标,分析技术标准涉及的专利权人的专利引用网络。研究表明,专利权人之间存在紧密连接、高凝聚力的专利引用网络,少数专利权人对网络内专利引用关系具有控制作用,高被引专利权人是专利引用网络形成的基础,在技术标准创立过程中发挥着重要作用。     

TRADE UNIONS,NEW TECHNOLOGY AND INCOMES POLICY: DISCLOSURE AND USE OF COMPANY INFORMATION

This article views prospective change in the industrial relations system, during the Hawke Government era, from an information system perspective. Exogenous forces emanating from technological change, cyclical and structural unemployment, and the framework of an incomes-prices policy, suggest that contentious policy issues of company information disclosure to unions and employees will occupy a prominent place on the agenda for the future of Australian industrial relations. Problems of disclosure are analysed against international trends, and reform proposals for Australian disclosure policies are critically examined. Some options are elaborated for the development of improved disclosure practices.     

Patents and knowledge diffusion: The impact of machine translation

One of the main rationales for the existence of the patent system is to encourage knowledge diffusion through the full disclosure of the technical knowledge embodied in a patented invention. Yet, economists and legal scholars cast doubts on the validity of the disclosure theory. The empirical evidence on the actual benefits of the disclosure function remains limited. The present paper aims to expand our understanding of how information spreads via patent disclosure and exploits recent improvements in machine translation (MT) to identify the effect of broader access to patented knowledge. More specifically, the paper uses a unique natural experiment. In September 2013, Google launched a major upgrade to its Google Patents service and added patent applications from the China National Intellectual Property Agency (CNIPA) to its searchable patent database. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we show that the translation of the Chinese patents into English resulted in an increase in citations received from patents filed by US inventors compared to a suitable control group comprising patents that Google translated only in 2016. Our results suggest that improved access to patented knowledge fosters knowledge diffusion.     

FRAND许可规则下标准化技术的治理研究

 首先介绍了知识产权与技术标准结合的研究背景,以及技术标准化实施中存在的专利丛林和专利劫持两类问题。针对以上问题,引出合作性技术标准化的组织形式和各自的职能。标准一经制定,相关专利权人往往凭借其市场力的提升,索取远高于自身专利技术价值的费用。有鉴于此,SSO为了规范标准技术市场提出了披露规则和FRAND规则。本文着重分析了在事后专利劫持、双边许可协商和事前技术竞争等经济情境下FRAND规则的多重含义。最后,以各种情境下专利权人和标准用户之间的制衡关系为基础,提出进一步的政策建议。     

论标准必要专利FRAND劫持规制

为规制标准必要专利中的FRAND劫持,促进标准必要专利更好地运用于市场,本文从FRAND劫持的本质属性出发,探索其与普通专利侵权存在的不同之处。在此基础上,借鉴美国、德国规制FRAND劫持的实践,结合我国具体情况提出建议。在标准必要专利信息对称层面,建立、完善标准必要专利信息披露制度和标准必要专利许可使用费相对公开机制;在标准必要专利侵权救济层面,通过审查标准实施者是否恶意决定禁令的实施,采用技术分摊规则、比较许可协议等综合考量确定专利侵权损害赔偿。     

Linguistic metrics for patent disclosure: Evidence from university versus corporate patents

Encouraging disclosure is important for the patent system, yet the technical information in patent applications is often inadequate. We use algorithms from computational linguistics to quantify the effectiveness of disclosure in patent applications. Relying on the expectation that universities have more ability and incentive to disclose their inventions than corporations, we analyze 64 linguistic measures of patent applications, and show that university patents are more readable by 0.4 SD of a synthetic measure of readability. Results are robust to controlling for non-disclosure-related invention heterogeneity. The linguistic metrics are evaluated by a panel of “expert” student engineers and further examined by USPTO 112(a) – lack of disclosure – rejection. The ability to quantify disclosure opens new research paths and potentially facilitates improvement of disclosure.     

标准必要专利FRAND原则的解释与适用

专利权人在向标准组织申请将其专利写入标准时,通常需要披露专利并遵循"公平、合理和非歧视(FRAND)"许可原则,但是FRAND原则充满模糊性。如何理解和适用FRAND原则直接关系到技术标准的推广和创新的激励。以我国近期发生的4起标准必要专利案件为例,分析我国如何解释与适用FRAND原则,以明确我国对标准必要专利许可的专利政策。     

Pendency and grant ratios of invention patents: A comparative study of the US and China

This paper compares and contrasts the invention patents of the US and China focusing on the application and granting practices. The findings show that both countries appear to make efforts to provide equal treatment to domestic and foreign applicants for patents in terms of pendency, but domestic applicants seem to enjoy more certainty of the patent being granted within the pendency period than foreign applicants in both countries. As regards grants, the US is equal in granting patents to domestic and foreign applications; China appears to give preferential treatment to domestic applications. Such practices have implications for both patenting policy and activities.     

海洋波浪能领域国际专利竞争态势分析

为了解海洋波浪能国际专利布局现状,本文在检索查阅、归纳分析原始专利文献的基础上,对海洋波浪能国际专利申请(公开)趋势、国家分布、主要专利权人及重点技术领域等方面做了全面的剖析,从中可了解技术领先国家,重点公司及其技术,以期对我国海洋波浪能的研发机构、企业有所启发,以对我国海洋波浪能的发展有所帮助。     

目标设置至关重要吗？来自专利喜与忧的证据

中国专利申请和授权量均取得了可喜成绩,也存在已有专利多集中于国内专利等令人担忧的问题。本文验证了作为政府绩效管理关键环节的目标设置的作用,具体采用2001-2010年中国30个省份的面板数据,运用双重差分法（DID）对五年规划中发明专利授权量目标设置对发明专利授权量、海外发明专利申请比重的影响进行研究。结果显示,五年规划中发明专利授权量目标设置显著提高了发明专利授权量,但也显著降低了海外专利申请量的比重。现有专利目标设置使政府往往高度关注专利数量增长,专利保护知识产权、鼓励发明创造的“初心”往往被忽略。     

5G标准必要专利分布特征:国际比较研究

基于欧洲电信标准化协会中5G标准必要专利相关数据,从5G标准必要专利披露数量、地理位置分布、技术领域分布3个方面比较分析中国与美国、欧盟、日本和韩国等国家或地区之间的差异。研究发现,（1）中国5G标准必要专利披露数位居第一,但是5G技术涉及标准数量与欧盟相比仍有差距;（2）中国5G标准必要专利地理位置布局以本国为主,市场分布不广;（3）中国的5G技术优势主要集中在无线通信网络、信息传输等方面,美国、欧盟等国家或地区的技术优势不仅包括无线通信、信息传输等领域,还涵盖了传感器、芯片等关键技术。     

基于专利数据的科创板企业诉讼风险与应对策略研究

[目的/意义]分析科创板企业专利诉讼风险,为相关企业制定知识产权战略,防控专利诉讼风险及相关研究提供参考.[方法/过程]采用统计分析、社会网络分析、案例分析法,从诉讼案件、趋势、主体、专利、策略五个方面对科创板企业专利诉讼风险和应对策略进行研究.[结果/结论]科创板企业专利诉讼以企业之间的侵权和权属纠纷为主,被诉较多,...     

What determines patent value?: Insights from the semiconductor industry

This paper contributes to an understanding which impacts certain patent characteristics have on the value of patent rights. In an exploratory study, 127 individual patents from a semiconductor company were evaluated comprehensively by technical and marketing representatives. The analysis of this rare data shows that for patents used as “bargaining chips”, novelty and inventive activity are most important. Difficulty of inventing around and disclosure turn out to be of limited importance. Due to a selection bias the influence of patent age on its value cannot be determined. The results hint at a differentiated theoretical plausibility of value indicators.     

SEP免费政策会导致SSO成员离开吗？——基于ICT行业的实证分析

基于Searle Center Database,用生存分析方法分析SEP免费政策对SSO成员生存率的影响。研究表明在ICT行业中,SEP免费政策反而会提高成员的生存率,当成员同时加入多个SSO或在其他SSO中声明SEP时,这种效应尤其明显。认为在复杂技术行业中,技术供给企业可能存在着迂回获利模式,SSO可以改进政策制定思路避免陷入"标准推广or标准质量"的两难选择。     

专利的技术新兴度与其技术影响力间关系研究

识别具有发展潜力的新兴技术和最具价值的新兴技术主体已成为各利益相关方关注的重点。美国的FUSE项目提出了“技术新兴度”这一指标,实现了对新兴技术（主体）的定量评估。在此基础上,本文以专利为研究对象,引入文献计量学、计量经济学等相关方法,在对专利的技术新兴度进行计算的基础上,从定量角度探究专利的技术新兴度与其技术影响力间的关系,并使用纳米载药领域的专利数据进行实证分析。研究表明,专利的技术影响力与其技术新兴度间存在显著的正相关关系,即技术新兴度越高的专利可能对后续的技术发展产生更大的影响和推动作用,且这种新兴技术思想（新兴术语）对专利技术影响力的提高作用具有一定的持久性（至少3年）。本研究为新兴技术的定量研究、高质量专利的挖掘以及我国政府或企业相关科技策略的制定提供了重要的参考。     

基于政策分析的政府公开信息质量保障措施研究 ——以贵州省为例

[目的/意义]旨在为提高政府公开信息质量提供参考。[方法/过程]在界定政府公开信息质量内涵的基础上,对贵州省相关政策进行文本分析,整理出高频关键词表,并从质量维度和时间维度两方面分析政府公开信息质量的相关保障措施及存在的问题。[结果/结论]贵州省政府信息公开政策对公开信息质量的保障主要集中在信息的及时性和公开范围两个方面,而较少关注公开信息的一致性和信息公开效率;不同时间点发布的政府信息公开政策,其内容侧重点不同,且表现为更加细化和具体;"保密性"在政府信息公开的初期较为重视,但随着相关政策实施的成熟,对保密性的要求稍有宽松。建议进一步建立政府与公众的双向互动机制和社会评议制度,平衡政府信息公开与信息保密之间的关系,并将大数据技术应用于政府信息公开中。