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Patent Holdout and Small(er) Technology Firms

Most of the academic and policy attention in the past two decades has been focused on patent holdup theory that posits how weak patents asserted under the threat of injunctive relief can extract greater value than their true worth. This is peculiar given that the eBay ruling in 2006, and its subsequent interpretation by the courts, has greatly reduced the opportunity for injunctive relief in the US. This study instead investigates the symmetrical theory of patent holdout whereby strong patents asserted in a regime of weak injunctive relief can only extract value below their true worth. The focus of the study is on small(er) technology firms (STFs), which are generally understood as critical to economic growth, in contention with much larger incumbent market actors. In particular, the Sonos v. Google and Centripetal v. Cisco are provided as case studies.

Speaker: Dr. Bowman Heiden is currently the Co-Director of the Center for Intellectual Property (CIP), which is a joint centre for knowledge-based business development between University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology, and the Norwegian University for Science and Technology.

Feb 16, 2023 04:00 PM in Brussels