Title
Intellectual Property Rights As A Factor In The Development Of Standards
Author
George T. , P.E Willingmyre, GTW Associates
Date
1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 1998)
(Original Publish Date: 1998)
Abstract
Many standards related to high technology fields such as information technology and telecommunications strive to promote compatibility and interoperability among diverse, rapidly changing systems and components. A standard's ability to fulfil this objective depends upon its wide use and adoption in the marketplace. It follows, therefore that the procedures of most formal standards organizations require that there should be no unreasonable impediments for anyone to adopt implement and use a standard. This is straightforward in most instances, but becomes more complicated when there are proprietary intellectual property rights (IPR) necessary to adopt, implement or use the standard. Standards organizations generally encourage their committees to propose standards that do not require the use of an IPR. But often there are no other solutions. In order to achieve the desired compatibility or interoperability objective, sometimes a committee must select one particular approach perhaps among several proprietary alternatives. This Sophie's choice decision can have dramatic economic consequences for the owners of the IPR.