Patent cross-licensing,the influence of IP interdependency and the moderating effect of firm size |
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Authors: | Florian Köhler |
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Institution: | 1.Berlin University of Technology, Chair of Innovation Economics,Berlin,Germany |
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Abstract: | This paper analyzes technological interdependency as the key factor for companies’ motivation to engage in cross-licensing
transactions. It gives evidence on how the incentive effects for mutual technology transfers vary by firm size and the degree
to which a firm has to rely on its competitors’ intellectual property (IP dependency). Even though IP dependency exists also
among smaller firms, cross-licensing has previously only been analyzed for large firms. This paper fills this gap in the empiric
literature using original survey data among German manufacturing companies. Findings suggest that the influence of firm size
and IP dependency on the use of cross-licensing can not be regarded separately. While the effect of IP dependency on the relevance
of cross-licensing itself has a clear positive effect this seems to be true to a higher extent for small firms and decrease
for larger companies. A possible reason for the interaction effect between these two factors is that larger firms have better
odds of achieving a technological workaround which can serve as an alternative to in- or cross-licensing; furthermore small
high tech firms might need to explicitly use cross-licensing to secure the freedom to operate while a large firm’s patent
portfolio itself can serve as an implicit insurance by posing a threat which prevents other technology holders to file patent
infringement cases. |
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