This study examines cooperative standard-setting in wireless telecommunications. Focusing on the competition among firms to influence formal standardization, the roles of standard-setting committees, private alliances, and technical consortia are highlighted. The empirical context is Third...

Despite their potential efficiency benefits, voluntary consensus standards have over the past decade become the subject of significant private litigation, regulatory enforcement and policy debate. Much of the controversy centers on the perceived proliferation of patents covering standardized...

Technology standards such as the Wi-Fi or 5G mobile communication standard rely on standard-essential patents (SEPs). Increasing licensing revenues and several disputes between owners and users of SEPs raise the question about the patenting behavior of firms developing standardized technologies....

The Huawei ruling identified the steps that owners and users of SEPs will have to follow in negotiating a FRAND royalty. Compliance with the code of conduct will shield patent holders from the gaze of competition law and, at the same time, will protect implementers from the threat of an...

In a referendum on 23rd June 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) voted for ‘Brexit’, i.e., to leave the European Union (EU). After some delay the government will invoke Article 50 TEU, which would begin a two-year period of negotiation for a withdrawal agreement, after which the EU treaties would...

Mobile telecommunications has been a considerable success with consumers, yet markets are oligopolies designed by governments and by industry, with many flaws, including limited ability to regulate prices, quality of service and coverage. Markets have been partially opened to competition, with...

For three decades the government of South Africa has sought to make telecommunications universally available and affordable. In its last days, the National Party government persuaded with the African National Congress (ANC) there should be licences for two competing international groups to build...

The traditional practice of intercepting posts and telegrams was extended to telephony, both wire-tapping and call-logging, at a time of little regard for privacy and with minimal transparency. It was the introduction of competition, particularly non-state operators, that required codification...

The Hatch-Waxman Act was intended to encourage makers of generic drugs to seek early entry into drug markets controlled by patents, in part by challenging the patents before they expire. Some patentees have settled these challenges by agreeing to pay the challengers tens or hundreds of millions...