subtitle

Patent Litigations as a Barrier to Innovation:

The Case of LEDs

MOTI Seminar, Grenoble Ecole de Management, 7 novembre 2014.

Cédric GossartAltay ÖzaygenMüge Özman

Institut Mines-Télécom / Télécom Ecole de Management

Outline

1. Objectives

2. Background

3. Method & Data

4. Results & Discussion

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1. Objectives

1. Shed light on whether patents are barriers to ecoinnovation in the LED sector.

2. Understand the differences between litigated patents and non litigated ones.

3. Formulate policy recommendations to overcome barriers to ecoinnovation in the LED sector.

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Cradle-to-cradle LEDs?

4cycLED demonstrators

The lighting sector

Lighting technologies: Stage 1 (flame-based lighting)

Fuel combustion has dominated the long history of lighting:

• 4500 years ago: in modern day Iraq oil lamps were used to burn oils made from olives and seeds.

• 2000 years ago: the first candles appeared in Rome.

• 200 years ago: first gasworks established in Freiburg by Lampadius (German mineralogist).

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Source: De Almeida, Santos et al. (2014: 32).

Stage 2: electricity-based lighting

Source: http://www.cree.com/News-and-Events/Cree-News/Press-Releases/2014/March/300LPW-LED-barrier.

2014

Nobel prize winner Nakamura

What is an LED?

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Source: cycLED Deliverable 2.1: Categorization of LED products.

8Source: cycLED Deliverable 2.1: Categorization of LED products.

Energy benefits of LEDs

9Source: The Climate Group (2012).

Environmental benefits of LEDs: There is room for improvements!

10Source: Aman et al. (2013).

What solutions to inefficient lighting?

11Source: Wissema (1982), quoted in Olleros (1986: 7).

LEDs

Environmental benefits of LEDs?

Highly innovative field (see Cecere et al., Research Policy, June 2014).

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• McKinsey & Company (2012): the most promising technology in terms of commercial viability by 2020, ahead of electric vehicles.

• In 2020: Sales on the global lighting market > 100 billion Euros (80% for general lighting).

• LED share in general lighting =

• 45% in 2016

• 70% in 2020

The lighting & LED markets

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Evolution of LED patents

• Huge increase in the past 20 years…

• … but decline in 2013!

(not seen here)

The LED knowledge base

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• Growth in the number of different subject matters incorporated in the LED domain (cf. growth in the number of nodes).

• Certain knowledge fields are “peripheral”: they are weakly connected to each other and to the core, where the core in return is strongly connected).

• After 2000, the periphery has narrowed down: possible saturation of knowledge dynamics?

Why patent litigations?

• Weak IPR regimes help to the emergence and diffusion of transistor, semiconductor and mobile telephony technologies (Dosi et al. 2006).

• 94 % of patent lawsuits are related to software (Allison et al. 2009).

• Half a trillion dollar of loss for defendants between 1990-2010 (Bessen et al. 2011).

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Patents as barriers to ecoinnovation?

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3. Methods & Data

Patent Litigation in LEDs

• Patent litigations have the potential to deter innovation.

• What are the nature of the litigated patents in LED?

• Comparisons of patent characteristics used to distinguish the differences between the group of litigated patents from the group of those which are not litigated.

• Patents being classified within the H01L 33 IPC code.

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Descriptive statistics

• PATSTAT 2014 april. and MAXVAL litigation databases.

• Discriminant function analysis for 1990-2000 and 2000-2010 periods.

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Group statistics

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Coefficient of linear discriminants

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4. Results & Discussion

LED patents as barriers to innovation?

• Litigated patents are significantly different in terms of their scientific basis, and in terms of their potential use in later innovations.

• Litigated LED patents are highly scientific (i.e. cite many scientific publications) => good quality => hard to invalidate => more law suits for infringement => barrier for SMEs & high costs (=> less money for innovation).

• Knowledge base of the industry: possible saturation of knowledge dynamics? => use of litigations as barriers to protect patent pool? Incentive to cross-license? => barrier for SMEs.

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Cédric Gossart http://gossart.wp.mines-telecom.fr/

Altay ÖzaygenAltay.Ozaygen@telecom-em.eu

Müge Özmanhttp://muge.wp.mines-telecom.fr/

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Backup slides

The cycLED project• Objectives:– Minimize consumption of target metals in LED-products via

• Design for longevity, reuse, repair;• Optimized end-of-life of LED products.

– Produce highly efficient ecodesigned LED products.• Project Duration: 42 months– 1 January 2012 to 30 June 2015 • Coordination:– Dr. Otmar Deubzer, Fraunhofer IZM• Financing:– ~ 5.4 mio €, co-funding of ~ 4 mio € by EC, FP7 (CP, DG ENV)• cycLED project web page: www.cyc-LED.eu

Larger Com

panies

SMEs

Research,Academ

iccycLED members & activities

1. Fraunhofer IZM (DE, Coordination, WP2, 5)2. EcoDesign Center Wales (EDCW, UK; WP2, 6)3. Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT, FR; WP8)4. Nottingham Trent University (NTU, UK; WP3)5. OUT (DE; WP4)6. Sirris (BE; WP7)

7. ELPRO Elektronik-Produkt Recycling GmbH (DE; WP5)8. Braun Lighting Solutions (DE; WP4, demonstrator1)9. ONA (ES; WP4, demonstrator 3)10. Riva GmbH Lighting (DE; WP4, demonstrator 4)

11. ETAP Lighting (BE; WP4, demonstrator 2)12. Philips Lighting (NL; WP6)13. Umicore (BE; WP5)

A plea for methodological pluriformity

Source: René Kemp (2012), “Ideas for future research on eco-innovation”, IMT eco-innovation seminar, 1 December, Paris.

Phase I: Qualitative & explorative

Phase II: Quantitative & extensive

Interview guideline & collected data (Phase I)

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Firm

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