ABSTRACT
This chapter examines economic and management literature on standard setting organizations, standard-essential patents and fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. Scholars have paid increased attention to the standard setting process as the demand for standardized technologies grows in the oncoming internet of things (IoT) era. The studies on standard setting organizations examine their evolving intellectual property policies, since they could potentially affect firms’ participation in standardization. In addition, scholars demonstrate that firms’ participation in industry consortia and patent pools enhance collaboration during the standard setting process and licensing transactions respectively. As for standard-essential patents (SEP) and FRAND terms, on the one hand, scholars argue that SEPs increase firms’ financial returns, which motivate them to continue developing technology related to standards and participating in the standard setting process. On the other hand, FRAND terms are widely adopted by SSOs, even though the definition of FRAND remains ambiguous.
