DP6141 The Rules of Standard Setting Organizations: An Empirical Analysis

Author(s): Benjamin Chiao , Josh Lerner , Jean Tirole

Publication Date: February 2007

Keyword(s): forum shopping , innovation , licensing , standardization

JEL(s): L2 , O3

Programme Areas: Industrial Organization

Link to this Page: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP6141.asp.asp

This paper empirically explores standard-setting organizations’ policy choices. Consistent with Lerner-Tirole (2006), we find (a) a negative relationship between the extent to which an SSO is oriented to technology sponsors and the concession level required of sponsors and (b) a positive correlation between the sponsor-friendliness of the selected SSO and the quality of the standard. We also develop and test two extensions of the earlier model: the presence of provisions mandating royalty-free licensing is negatively associated with disclosure requirements, and the relationship between concessions and user friendliness is weaker when there is only a limited number of SSOs.