Technical Standards, Standards-Setting Organizations and Intellectual Property : A Survey of the Literature (With an Emphasis on Empirical Approaches)

Despite their potential benefits, voluntary consensus standards have over the past decade become the subject of significant private litigation, regulatory enforcement and policy debate. Much of the current controversy centers on the perceived proliferation of patents covering standardized technologies, potentially abusive enforcement of such patents against manufacturers and users of standardized products, and the terms on which patent holders may be required to license the use of those patents to others. This chapter offers an overview of the empirical, legal and economic literature concerning the interaction of inter-operability standards and standards-setting organizations with intellectual property rights (primarily patents, with attention to copyrights and trademarks as well)