Jean Tirole, Chairman of TSE will open the new season of the "Academic and Business Talks " of the academic year 2014-2015. He will present "Intellectual Property and Public Policy" on Thursday, October 2, 2014 at 5 pm Room MBII, Manufacture des Tabacs.
Abstract:
The future of several industries hinges on public policy toward intellectual property. This lecture will investigate a couple of challenges faced by policymakers. New technologies tend to be covered by a wide array of patents issued to the different firms that contribute components to the technology. Public policy thereby confronts two major policy issues concerning the diffusion and sharing of intellectual property. First, the patent thicket is conducive to “royalty stacking”, threatening the diffusion of the technology. Second, when standardization is necessary, any patent needed to practice the standard becomes a “standard-essential patent” and the patent owner can ask for a high royalty even when other patents could have offered comparable value, had the technology been morphed differently. The lecture will discuss public policy reforms that would favor widespread technology diffusion while rewarding only truly innovative contributions.”