Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • March 2010 (Revised January 2011)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Carrot or Stick? Getting Paid for Innovation at Tessera Technologies

By: Willy C. Shih
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:20
ShareBar

Abstract

Tessera Technologies has been very successful developing technologies for the semiconductor and mobile device industry, and then licensing them broadly to manufacturers. In addition to licensing patents, it also supplies know-how to help manufacturers move into high-volume production. But the changing environment for patent enforcement, in particular the use of injunctions post eBay v. MercExchange, has brought new challenges to the company's licensing model. "Patent holdouts," companies who chose to litigate rather than license, created pressure from existing licensees. Further, as the company advanced one of its newest technology developments, a cooling technology for portable devices, it had to contend with markets where there were not strong property rights regimes. Would the company be able to get paid for its innovations, or was its model doomed?

Keywords

Business Model; Innovation Strategy; Patents; Courts and Trials; Rights; Mobile Technology; Semiconductor Industry; California

Citation

Shih, Willy C. "Carrot or Stick? Getting Paid for Innovation at Tessera Technologies." Harvard Business School Case 610-085, March 2010. (Revised January 2011.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Willy C. Shih

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • January 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Geely SEA: New Electric Vehicle Platforms

    By: Willy C. Shih and Shu Lin
    • August 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (A) and (B)

    By: Willy Shih
    • August 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (B)

    By: Willy Shih
More from the Author
  • Geely SEA: New Electric Vehicle Platforms By: Willy C. Shih and Shu Lin
  • Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (A) and (B) By: Willy Shih
  • Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (B) By: Willy Shih
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College