A Research On The Patent Strategy Of The Patent Pool Member

Intellectual Property (IP) is an important resource for a company to realize sustainable competitive advantage in a time (era) of knowledge economy. Patent is a main form of the IP .Companies around the world pay more and more attention to the patent strategy. The patent pools formed one after another are bringing a new competitive environment to the patent strategy of a company. The theme of this dissertation is on the patent strategy of the patent pool member under the influence of patent pool. Focus on this theme, this dissertation conducted an in-depth study by using the theory of Economics and Management. The research issues of this dissertation are: 1) How to link the corporate strategy with patent strategy and furthermore to establish a framework to formulate patent strategy in practice? 2) What is the influence of a patent pool on the patent strategy of the member of the patent pool? There are three sub-questions in detail with the second research issue. a) What is the influence of a patent pool on the patenting strategy of the member of the patent pool? b) What is the influence of a patent pool on the patent licensing strategy of the member of the patent pool? c) What is the influence of a patent pool on the patent litigation strategy of the member of the patent pool?The main contents of each chapter are summarized as follows:Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are the basis of this study. Chapter 1 elaborates on the significance of the study, the contents of this study, the research framework of this study and some definitions related to this study. Chapter 2 is literature review. This chapter covers material directly related to patent strategy and patent pool. It reviews a select body of literature that focuses on the formation of patent pool, the regulation of patent pool, intangible resource strategy, IP strategy, patent strategy, patent licensing and patent litigation.Chapter 3 focuses on the first research issue of this study. Firstly, it studies the contribution of a patent to competitive advantage. Secondly it establishes a framework to help formulate patent strategy in practice. This dissertation holds the view that patent is a typical kind of intangible resource and contributes a lot to sustainable competitive advantage of a company. This part sets up a framework to identify the contribution of a patent to the competitive advantage and establishes a framework to help formulate the patent strategy in practice This PLL framework analyzes the patent strategy with two dimensions. Horizontal dimension is three main kinds activities related to patent. Vertical Dimension is corporate strategy, business strategy and technology strategy. The intersection of these two dimensions is the specific issue of the patent strategy.Chapter 4 to Chapter 7 turns to focus on the second research issue of this study. Chapter 4 investigates the possible influences of patent pool on the patent strategy of the pool member overall. The stability, the performance and the core components of a patent pool are analyzed in this part. Chapter 5 to Chapter 7 studies the three sub-questions of the second research issue respectively. Chapter 5 discusses the decision mechanism of patenting firstly and then discusses the behavior of patenting of patent pool member with a game theory model. Without considering other circumstances, the propensity to patent of the pool member increases with the complementary of the technology between pool member and the pool. It decreases with the existence of competitive patent pool. Chapter 6 discusses the decision mechanism of patent licensing firstly and then discusses the behavior of licensing of patent pool member with an optimization theory model. The optimal input on the independent patent licensing of the pool member depends on the effect of the input on the increase of return and the mechanism of return distribution. Chapter 7 discusses the decision mechanism of patent litigation firstly and then discusses the behavior of patent litigation of patent pool member with an option game theory model. The propensity to litigate of the pool member is higher in the early stage of the patent pool because of the uncertainty.Chapter 8 is a case study. The cases of DVD6C patent pool, AVS patent pool and GSM patent pool are investigated in this part. The patent strategy of Hitachi, Motorola and Nokia are analyzed in detail.Chapter 9 summarizes this dissertation. Main research conclusions and key contributions of this study are briefed in this part. The limitations of this study and future research suggestions are also pointed out in this part.In brief, this dissertation studies the patent strategy of a patent pool member first time and furthers the study of basic question of patent strategy. The main innovative points of this dissertation are summarized as follows: 1. This dissertation conducts an in-depth study of a patent's contribution to competitive advantage and establishes a framework to help formulate patent strategy in practice. Firstly, with the reference to the criterions of Barney and Peteraf about a resource's contribution to competitive advantage it evaluates the contribution of a patent to competitive advantage. Secondly, it sets up a framework to identify the contribution of a patent to the competitive advantage. Thirdly, it establishes a P-L-L framework to help formulate the patent strategy in practice.2. This dissertation studies the patent strategy of a patent pool member first time. Firstly, it investigates every possible influences of patent pool on the patent strategy of the pool member overall. Secondly, based on the summary of the characters of patenting, patent licensing and patent litigation, it studies the strategy of patenting, patent licensing and patent litigation of a patent pool member with theoretical models.3. This dissertation does case and survey studies of the patent strategies of some patent pool members, compiles a survey questionnaire.