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
  • June 2015
  • Article
  • Journal of Political Economy

Standard-Essential Patents

By: Josh Lerner and Jean Tirole
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

A major policy issue in standard setting is that patents that are ex-ante not that important may, by being included into the standard, become standard-essential patents (SEPs). In an attempt to curb the monopoly power that they create, most standard-setting organizations require the owners of patents covered by the standard to make a loose commitment to grant licenses on reasonable terms. Such commitments unsurprisingly are conducive to intense litigation activity. This paper builds a framework for the analysis of SEPs, identifies several types of inefficiencies attached to the lack of price commitment, shows how structured price commitments restore competition, and analyzes whether price commitments are likely to emerge in the marketplace.

Keywords

Patents; Policy; Standards

Citation

Lerner, Josh, and Jean Tirole. "Standard-Essential Patents." Journal of Political Economy 123, no. 3 (June 2015): 547–586.
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Josh Lerner

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers

    By: Ufuk Akcigit, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend and Yulia Zhestkova
    • Summer 2020
    • Journal of Economic Perspectives

    Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn

    By: Josh Lerner and Ramana Nanda
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation

    By: Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner and Ratnika Prasad
More from the Authors
  • Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers By: Ufuk Akcigit, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend and Yulia Zhestkova
  • Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn By: Josh Lerner and Ramana Nanda
  • Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation By: Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner and Ratnika Prasad
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
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College