standards
China’s Patent vs. Innovation Dilemma
With a well-deserved reputation for counterfeiting and knockoffs, we have rarely looked to China for innovation and invention. Nevertheless, as an ever-growing giant on the world’s economic stage, China has taken steps to remedy this deficiency. About a year ago, Thomson-Reuters released their second report on the nation’s patent prowess, suggesting that China’s patent will outpace Japan […]
Are Patents on Interfaces Impeding Interoperability?
Pamela Samuelson is the Richard M. Sherman ‘74 Distinguished Professor of Law and Information at the University of California at Berkeley and is a member of IP Osgoode's International Advisory Council. Many commentators and policymakers have expressed serious concerns about the exclusionary potency of patents on communications protocols and interface designs for information and communications […]
Discourse About Patents and Standards Highlight Tension Between Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law
As a part of my undergraduate studies, I took a course in business strategy, and one of the most memorable topics was technological lock-in. We were taught that there is explicit value in being a technological first-mover because such businesses can create switching costs for purchasers by establishing a proprietary standard in a new market. […]