What makes patent pools successful? An analysis of optical disc and mobile phone industries

The modern patent landscape, especially in high tech industries, is complex and requires market participants to use collaborative governance structures in order to cut down the increasing transaction costs. This paper focuses on one of these governance structures – patent pools. By analysing eight case studies in optical disk and mobile phone industries, this article aims to understand what is a successful patent pool and what are the determinants of its success. Although the two technologies discussed in the article were initially developed over the same period of time, their respective pools developed differently. Our findings suggest, however, that there are nonetheless some similarities in determinants of success across these two sectors.