This study examines the welfare effects of patent pools with independent licensing. We argue that forcing patent pools to allow each individual patent holder to license the technology independently does not necessarily work as a screening tool to select only desirable patent pools. We consider a...

This paper challenges the conventional wisdom that exclusive owners of an advanced technology are always better off when producing as a monopolist than when competing against another firm. Competition against a less efficient firm weakens the power that a host country can exert on the incumbent...

Expansion of the cloud computing market, a major reform in information and communication technology (ICT), has attracted wide attention. From the perspective of companies that need cloud services, if access to cloud spreads is available on rent instead of sales, initial investment cost will...

In a context of product innovation, we study two-part tariff licensing between a patentee and a potential rival which compete in a differentiated product market characterized by network externalities. The latter are shown to crucially affect the relative profitability of Cournot vs. Bertrand...

The third generation UMTS auction in Germany raised an enormous amount of revenue, and at the same time achieved a more competitive market structure than other UMTS auctions in Europe. The present paper explains the design of that auction, and presents a game theoretic explanation of observed...

This paper gives an account of events, and explains some systematic reasons of the UMTS auction flop in Switzerland. Apart from general market developments, which could not have been anticipated, we argue that auction design which was introduced in England and adopted in Switzerland and...

In a domestic market, a duopoly produces a homogeneous final good, pollution, pollution abatement, and R&D, which reduces abatement cost. One of the firms (foreign) has superior technology. The government regulates the duopoly by levying a pollution tax to maximize domestic welfare. We consider...

In a context of product innovation, we study two-part tariff licensing between a patentee and a potential rival which compete in a differentiated product market characterized by network externalities. The latter are shown to crucially affect the relative profitability of Cournot vs. Bertrand...

In many industries, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must obtain critical components from a few powerful suppliers. For example, OEMs that produce information technology hardware typically interact with highly concentrated supply industries that are dominated by a few key participants,...

In industries where a patent system is in place, licensing agreements among competing firms often create distortions, as they involve royalties. Royalties are generally considered to be anti-competitive as they raise market prices and reduce consumer welfare. In this paper we propose simple tax...