信息通信技术:标准、专利与国际竞争

Standards,Patents and National Competitiveness

标准非常重要但是少有人了解。特定领域的技术标准能够在现代全球经济网络化中发挥作用。但是,在这些技术标准中有数百甚至数千种专利保护技术。这份报告提供了一份基于标准必要专利(SEPs)对相关公司和国家的影响的市场考察。SEPs中的技术标准塑造了标准服务的市场,它们有权决定哪一种行为体可以进入服务市场和其应遵守的条件。通过专利授权费和惯例,SEPs的持有者能够限制竞争或者增加竞争对手的成本。本文探讨了标准的知识产权产生影响的两种情况。首先考虑的是移动通信的全球移动通信(GSM)和码分多址(CDMA)标准,揭示了公司如何通过控制基本知识产权标准来塑造有利竞争的条件。本文通过研究最近在中国的标准化成果论证了一种替代SEPs的方法。在这些成果中,重点不在于标准知识产权必须货币化,而在于广泛的技术传播和符合标准的服务的销售。这种替代方法,强调免费或者名义上的知识产权,对现存的"合理无歧视"原则构成了挑战。

Standards are important but poorly understood. Technology standards in particular enable the modem networked global economy to function. Within these technology standards, however, are hundreds or thousands of separate patent-protected technologies. This paper offers a market-based examination of the impact of these standards-essential patents （SEPs） on the firms and countries adopting technology standards. SEPs within technology standards shape the markets for standards compliant devices. They determine which actors will be permitted to participate in the markets for these devices and the terms under which they will do so. Through licensing fees and practices, holders of SEPs are able to restrict competition or increase the costs of rival firms. This paper explores two cases of the impact of standards essential intellectual property （IP）. It first considers the cases of the GSM （Global System for Mobiles） and CDMA （Code Division Multiple Access） standards for mobile telecommunications, reveahng how firms were able to shape the terms of competition through their control of standards-essential IP. The paper then explores an alternate approach to SEPs as shown through recent standardization efforts in China. In those efforts, the emphasis is less on the monetization of the standards-essential IP and more on the widespread dissemination of technology and sale of standards-comphant devices. This alternate approach, emphasizing free or nominally priced IP, poses a challenge to the current norm of ＂reasonable and non-discriminatory＂ （RAND） hcensing terms for standards-essential IP.