Patents and Industry Standards

This insightful book reviews the inherent conflict between patent rights and industry standards and through analysis of both US and European case law proposes measures to improve current systems and foster greater innovation.

Jae Hun Park searches for the appropriate balance between the rights of patent owners and the need for industry standards within the scope of patent law. He considers the current solutions provided by legal systems and using cost–benefit analysis evaluates, from a legal and economic perspective, whether patent systems can be improved. Jae Hun Park proposes reform to the patent system that would introduce a ‘dynamic liability rule regime’, rather than ‘property rules’. The ‘dynamic liability rule regime’ adopts property rules at the stage when there are still competing standards, and liability rules at the stage when there are no competing standards. This would, he argues, resolve the conflict between patents and standards and mitigate the patent hold-up problem.

This is a must-read book for scholars interested in technology patents, innovation and competition law and policy, as well as those individuals working in standard setting organisations. It will also be of great interest to patent offices, patent attorneys and competition lawyers.