Working Paper: NBER ID: w19394
Authors: Wen Wen; Marco Ceccagnoli; Chris Forman
Abstract: We examine whether the introduction of a patent commons, a special type of royalty free patent pool available to the open source software (OSS) community influences new OSS product entry by start-up software firms. In particular, we analyze the impact of The Commons--established by the Open Source Development Labs and IBM in 2005. We find that increases in the size of The Commons related to a software market increase the rate of entry in the market by start-ups using a new product based on an OSS license. The marginal impact of The Commons on OSS entry is increasing in the cumulativeness of innovation in the market and the extent to which patent ownership in the market is concentrated.
Keywords: patent commons; open source software; startup entry; patent thickets
JEL Codes: L86; O34
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| patent commons (O34) | OSS entry by startups (L17) |
| number of patents contributed to the commons (O34) | OSS entry by startups (L17) |
| patent commons (O34) | expected invention and licensing costs (O36) |
| expected invention and licensing costs (O36) | OSS entry by startups (L17) |
| market growth (F61) | OSS entry by startups (L17) |
| prior patent contributions (O36) | OSS entry by startups (L17) |
| cumulative nature of innovation (O36) | OSS entry by startups (L17) |