Technology and intellectual property strategy of a firm: A view through the commons theory lens

Abstract

Strategy theory positions technology as a crucial resource of private value creation while commons theory provides governance structures pertinent to resource utilisation. The widening disconnect in the approach towards leveraging a resource and its governance increases the pressure on intellectual property that links strategy and commons. We discern in this work the existence of an implicit relationship between strategy and commons. Based on a multidisciplinary study of strategy, commons, and intellectual property theories, we propose patent pools in the form of semicommons as a strategic appropriation mechanism that balances technology strategy, IP strategy and commons in the pursuit of value creation.

Keywords

• Technology strategy
• Tragedy of commons and anticommons
• Semicommons
• Patent pools
• Appropriation
• IP strategy