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Rethinking Rand: Sdo-Based Approaches To Patent Licensing Commitments, Jorge Contreras Oct 2012

Rethinking Rand: Sdo-Based Approaches To Patent Licensing Commitments, Jorge Contreras

Working Papers

So-called “reasonable and nondiscriminatory” (RAND) licensing commitments have been utilized by standards-development organizations (SDOs) for years in an attempt to alleviate the risk of patent hold-up in standard-setting. These commitments, however, have proven to be vague and offer few assurances to product vendors or patent holders. A recent surge of international litigation concerning RAND commitments has brought this issue to the attention of regulators, industry and the public, and many agree that a better approach is needed. In this paper, I identify seven “first principles” that underlie the licensing and enforcement of standards-essential patents (SEP)s. These can be summarized as …


How Well Does The G20 Reflect African Interests And Priorities?: Some Thoughts Following The Los Cabos, Mexico Summit, Daniel Bradlow Aug 2012

How Well Does The G20 Reflect African Interests And Priorities?: Some Thoughts Following The Los Cabos, Mexico Summit, Daniel Bradlow

Working Papers

The leaders of the G20 countries have now held seven summits -- enough to begin critically evaluating how well the G20 serves the interest of specific sub-parts of the international community. The purpose of this paper is to assess how well the G20 responds to African interests. It is divided into three parts. The first is a brief description of the most recent summit, held on June 18-19, 2012 in Los Cabos, Mexico. The second part is a brief discussion of the criteria that will be used in this evaluation. The third part is an assessment of the G20 against …


Open Access Scientific Publishing And The Developing World, Jorge Contreras May 2012

Open Access Scientific Publishing And The Developing World, Jorge Contreras

Working Papers

Responding to rapid and steep increases in the cost of scientific journals, a growing number of scholars and librarians have advocated “open access” (OA) to the scientific literature. OA publishing models are having a significant impact on the dissemination of scientific information. Despite the success of these initiatives, their impact on researchers in the developing world is uncertain. This article analyses major OA approaches adopted in the industrialized world (so-called Green OA, Gold OA, and OA mandates, as well as non-OA information philanthropy) as they relate to the consumption and production of research in the developing world. The article concludes …


Standards And Related Intellectual Property Issues For Climate Change Technology, Jorge Contreras Feb 2012

Standards And Related Intellectual Property Issues For Climate Change Technology, Jorge Contreras

Working Papers

Almost every product sold today must conform to standards, whether relating to its design, manufacture, operation, testing, safety, sale or disposal, and sometimes to many of these at once. At their root, standards are no more than written requirements or design features of a product, service or other activity. They can be breathtakingly detailed or disarmingly general, ranging from thousands of pages in length to just a few sentences. Standards are set by a wide range of bodies, from governmental agencies to industry consortia to multinational treaty organizations. Some standards are adopted into local, state or federal legislation and attain …


Reclaiming Global Environmental Leadership: Why The United States Should Ratify Ten Pending Environmental Treaties, Mary Jane Angelo, Rebecca M. Bratspies, David Hunter, John H. Knox, Noah Sachs, Sandra B. Zellmer Jan 2012

Reclaiming Global Environmental Leadership: Why The United States Should Ratify Ten Pending Environmental Treaties, Mary Jane Angelo, Rebecca M. Bratspies, David Hunter, John H. Knox, Noah Sachs, Sandra B. Zellmer

Working Papers

For more than a century, the United States has taken the lead in organizing international responses to international environmental problems. In the last two decades, however, U.S. environmental leadership has faltered. The best-known example is the lack of an effective response to climate change, underscored by the U.S. decision not to join the Kyoto Protocol. But that is not the only shortfall. The United States has also failed to join a large and growing number of treaties directed at other environmental threats, including marine pollution, the loss of biological diversity, persistent organic pollutants, and trade in toxic substances. This white …