Opening Up Intellectual Property Strategy: Implications for Open Source Software Entry by Start-up Firms

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wen, Wen; Ceccagnoli, Marco; Forman, Chris
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2015.2247
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 2668-2691
• 关键词: IP strategy; open source software (OSS); OSS entry; patent commons; patent thicket; CUMULATIVE INNOVATION; concentrated patent ownership

摘要

We examine whether a firm's intellectual property (IP) strategy in support of the open source software (OSS) community stimulates new OSS product entry by start-up software firms. In particular, we analyze the impact of strategic decisions taken by IBM around the mid-2000s, such as its announcement that it will not assert its patents against the OSS community and its creation of a patent commons. These decisions formed a coherent IP strategy in support of OSS. We find that IBM's actions stimulated new OSS product introductions by entrepreneurial firms and that their impact is increasing in the cumulativeness of innovation in the market and the extent to which patent ownership in the market is concentrated.