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Cross-Licensing and Competition

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  • Jeon, Doh-Shin
  • Lefouili, Yassine

Abstract

We study bilateral cross-licensing agreements among N (>2) competing firms. We find that the industry-profit-maximizing royalty can be sustained as the outcome of bilaterally efficient agreements. This holds regardless of whether agreements are public or private and whether firms compete in quantities or prices. We extend this monopolization result to a general class of two-stage games in which firms bilaterally agree in the first stage to make each other payments that depend on their second-stage non-cooperative actions. Policy implications regarding the antitrust treatment of cross-licensing agreements are derived.

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  • Jeon, Doh-Shin & Lefouili, Yassine, 2015. "Cross-Licensing and Competition," CEPR Discussion Papers 10941, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10941
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    Cited by:

    1. Choi, Jay Pil & Gerlach, Heiko, 2019. "Optimal cross-licensing arrangements: Collusion versus entry deterrence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Jeon, Doh-Shin & Lefouili, Yassine, 2020. "Decentralizing Cooperation through Upstream Bilateral Agreements," CEPR Discussion Papers 14974, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Atle Haugen & Steffen Juranek, 2023. "Classroom experiments on technology licensing: Royalty stacking, cross-licensing, and patent pools," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(2), pages 113-125, April.
    4. Seyed H. Hosseini & Richard Gray & Mohammad Torshizi, 2019. "Cross‐licensing agreements in presence of technological improvements," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 67(1), pages 115-130, March.
    5. Nicolas Aguelakakis & Aleksandr Yankelevich, 2019. "Collaborate Or Consolidate: Assessing The Competitive Effects Of Production Joint Ventures," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 73-84, January.
    6. Chiu Yu Ko & Xuyao Zhang, 2020. "Research joint venture with technology transfer," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(1), pages 341-358, February.
    7. Van Moer, Geert, 2019. "Electricity market competition when forward contracts are pairwise efficient," MPRA Paper 96660, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Kevin A. Bryan & Erik Hovenkamp, 2020. "Antitrust Limits on Startup Acquisitions," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(4), pages 615-636, June.
    9. Doh-Shin Jeon & Yassine Lefouili, 2014. "Patent Licensing Networks," Working Papers 14-16, NET Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Antitrust and intellectual property; Collusion; Cross-licensing; Royalties;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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