Open IP strategies for emerging technologies

This research aims to explore the phenomenon of patent pledges. In a nutshell, patent pledges are initiatives of patent owners in which they announce the broad availability of patents, either on reasonable terms or free of charge. Tesla Motors is one of the most prominent examples to conduct patent pledges, because they have announced the free availability of patents relating to electric vehicles. Patent pledges often cause distrust in other firms and are generally not well understood. What is more, they are barely investigated with scientific rigour in an academic context. This research project, therefore, aims to answer three research objectives that build upon each other.
1. What is the definition of patent pledges and what different types exist?
2. Why do patent owners pledge their patents?
3. How do patent pledges impact the diffusion and adoption of technologies?
a. How does the timing influence technology diffusion?
b. How do patent pledge types influence technology diffusion?
Research question one will be answered by collecting 60 patent pledges and qualitatively analysing them. This analysis leads to two novel taxonomies: the patent pledge taxonomy and the patent licensing taxonomy. Research question two uses 30 qualitative interviews with world-leading experts, including a former president of a large patent office and the head of patents of a company valued more than 1 tn US-Dollars. These interviews will show that the main motive behind patent pledges is to increase technology adoption and, in some cases, to build a wider technology platform. To my knowledge, I am the first academic to gain access to experts that have been directly involved in the process of crafting and executing patent pledges. The outcome of these interviews will be further investigated in research question three by building an agent-based model that simulates adoption decisions of firms in different settings. As an outcome of this abstract, stochastic computer simulation, the effect of patent pledges on technology diffusion can be measured.