Open AccessPatenting and Voluntary Standards
Author(s) -
Eric James Iversen
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
science and technology studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.675
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2243-4690
DOI - 10.23987/sts.55136
Subject(s) - commodification , scope (computer science) , standardization , intellectual property , business , law and economics , process (computing) , technical standard , public relations , accounting , political science , economics , law , economy , computer science , programming language , operating system
This article focuses on the interaction between intellectual property rights (IPRs) regimes and committee-based standards development organisations (SDOs) in terms of the commodification of knowledge. IPRs and SDOs are institutions that are designed to codify technical knowledge with quite different purposes though. The resulting documents describe a private right (patent) or a public good (a standard). The article associates the former with a commodification and the latter with a decommodification process of technical knowledge, and it explores a situation in which these respective purposes have come into conflict. The scope for conflict is examined and analysed in light of the controversy, which emerged during the standardization of GSM telephony in Europe.