Search

Published online: 14 February 2021 This paper investigates whether EU or national law provides legal authority to impose a direct or indirect obligation on Standard Essential Patent (“SEP”) holders to license at all levels of the value chain, including at component level (“license to all”, hereafter LTA). It concludes that neither patent law, competition law nor general principles of EU law impose an obligation on SEP owners to license at all levels of the production chain. Whether there exists an LTA obligation is primarily a matter of contract law and depends on the precise text of the FRAND commitment made to the relevant Standard-Setting Organisation (SSO). The ETSI FRAND commitment, which is of special relevance in the European context and is governed by French law, does not impose an LTA regime. With the exception of IEEE, other SSOs also do not seem to impose a contractual duty to license to all levels of the production chain. However, what EU law and FRAND commitments do require is access to the standard. Such access can be achieved in different ways: by having a direct license; by selling standard-implementing components to licensed end-device manufacturers (indirect license); by concluding non-assertion agreements; or even without any license or authorization at all if the SEP owner has a policy of monetising its SEPs only at one level of the production chain and does not enforce its patents against others.

Finding leverage points for sustainability transformation of industrial and infrastructure systems is challenging, given that transformation is emergent from the complex interactions among socio-technical system elements over time within a specific social, technical and geographical context. Participatory multi-modelling, in which modellers and stakeholders collaborate to develop multiple interacting models to support a shared understanding of systems, is a promising approach to support sustainability transformations. Theparticipatory processof modeling can serve as a leverage point by facilitating social learning amongst stakeholders, in which models can function as boundary objects that facilitate dialogue between stakeholders from different social worlds. We propose that participatory multi-modeling allows for the creation ofa boundary object ecology, which involves a set of interacting and co-evolving boundary objects emerging throughout the modeling process. To explore this, we analyse the participatory multi-modelling process in the Windmaster project in the Rotterdam Port industrial cluster to understand which design choices were key to the creation of boundary objects. Our analysis shows that two types of design choices were key: design choices that enabled translations between participants, and those between participants and their organisation. We conclude that conceptualising participatory multi-modelling as a process of an evolving boundary object ecology, creating and adaptingmultipleinteracting boundary objects provides a novel perspective that is useful for analysis and design of future participatory multi-modeling processes.

Change in consumer behavior that leads to increased waste separation and recycling has been identified as a critical component of Chinese national strategy for constructing a “Circular Economy”. Various innovative solutions at community level targeting consumer behaviors are emerging in Chinese cities, using information technology that can track the volume and quality of the sorting process. In order to evaluate the potential impact of these novel solutions, we studied the behavioral change of households by initiating an experimental recycling program in a residential community in Beijing, and developed an Agent Based Model based on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to identify key factors in changing behavior. The results show that the Social Norm (SN) has a decisive effect on whether an area starts recycling or not. As to the effectiveness of intervention, the Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) plays a large role in the determination of the recycling behavior in this study, while the role of attitude is relatively small. The model outcomes can be corroborated with observations in different communities using similar technical solutions. In conclusion, we suggest that efficient local interactions among various stakeholders are needed in forming the social norm and common space that favorite recycling activities at the community level.

To lower the emissions of deep sea shipping, policymakers aim to decrease the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) as a maritime fuel. Multiple alternatives for HFO exist, but despite new regulations, their use is still limited. To stimulate shipping companies to replace HFO by one of the alternatives, policymakers can use a variety of policy instruments. In this paper, we present a comprehensive system perspective of the maritime fuel system and agent-based model (MarPEM) that can be used to study the effects of policy instruments on the transition away from HFO. In contrast to existing studies on reducing maritime emissions, our system perspective captures the relations and dynamics between different components of the maritime fuel system. Thereby, it can account for the feedback and non-linear dynamics in the system. We illustrate the use of MarPEM to assess the effect of three policy instruments that each influence the maritime fuel system differently. The outcomes of the experiments are in line with previous studies and the opinion of industrial experts. The model is thus a valid representation of the maritime fuel system. By presenting a sufficiently detailed representation of the marine fuel socio-technical system, listing clear and detailed assumptions, and publishing the source code, future studies can use this work as basis to study the effects of other policy instruments. Thereby, this research enables future detailed studies of the maritime fuel system’s transition.

Patent Assertion Entities, companies that monetise patents but do not practice them, have been over the years negatively portrayed as harmful “patent trolls” that engage in speculative and abusive patent litigation against manufacturing companies, threatening them with injunctions in order to extract settlements unrelated to the value of their technology. Although mass PAE litigation has mainly been US phenomenon, recent study indicated that PAEs are on the rise in Europe and a number of changes the European patent and litigation system have been recommended, in particular the denial of injunctive relief in case of finding of infringement of a valid patent. This article provides a different perspective on PAEs. It will first show that it is incorrect to label all PAEs as “bad” actors. Generally, PAEs are in the business of patent licensing and serve a useful intermediary function in the market, facilitating licensing and technology transfer, while some may be engaging in aggressive monetisation practices. Whether there is abuse of litigation system would depend on the facts of the case, and not a priori whether plaintiff is PAE or not. Second, PAEs have mainly been US phenomenon and the incentives for abuse of European patent and litigation system are not present, or are not present to the same extent as in the US. A combination of factors, such as patent cases being decided by experienced judges, higher costs of patent enforcement, lower costs of defence, loser pays principle and generally higher quality of patents all disincentivise the emergence of opportunistic litigation practices. Finally, the available evidence shows that PAEs are actually responsible for very small number of patent litigation in the EU. The vast majority of litigation is between practicing entities and in majority of cases PAEs are actually defendants in invalidity suits initiated by practicing entities. The evidence therefore suggests that European patent and litigation system is functioning well and that the fear about massive PAE litigation abuses is unfounded. European judges should continue in applying the relevant legal framework for granting legal remedies for infringement of IP rights, which already gives them the tools to guard against litigation abuses by any type of entity.

The shift to markets based on servicising, i.e. market-level transitions from product-based to service-based production and consumption patterns, may contribute to achieve absolute decoupling, i.e. the combined development of economic growth and environmental impact reduction. However, the potential of this contribution is largely unknown. In this paper a generic agent-based model of servicising is presented with which this potential can be explored further, taking into account decision making procedures of business and consumer agents, including market research, preferences, and willingness to pay. The details of the servicising model are presented, and the model's abilities are demonstrated through three case studies from different sectors: car and bike sharing, crop protection, and domestic water-saving systems. Absolute decoupling was found to occur in some of the policy scenarios, but results vary widely between cases. It is concluded that the model can be used to explore the impact of public policy on the uptake of servicising and on absolute decoupling in various sectors, and is therefore a useful support tool for policy makers who aim to promote servicising, as well as for researchers studying potential servicising impacts.

The possibility to seek and obtain injunctions for the infringement of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) is limited in both the US and the EU. The reasons for restricting the use of injunctions is due to concern of patent holdup, i.e. the possibility of SEP holder to force standard-implementers to accept onerous licensing terms, exceeding patent’s true economic value, as well as seeing injunctions as incompatible with the commitment given by the patent holder that it will license its SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. Limiting the use of injunctions by SEP holders may enable implementers to engage in a holdout, i.e. delaying taking a license for as long as possible, forcing the patentee to engage in expensive and protracted litigation in order to settle for below FRAND terms. Instead of focusing on injunctions, courts may use some procedural remedies in SEP disputes to restore the balance between the interests of patent holders and implementers. Courts could, at the beginning of the trial, order the defendant to make interim payments into escrow, or provide another type of security, reflecting the value of SEP holder’s whole portfolio, and not just for the patents in the litigation. Once interim payments are in place, courts may separate patent and FRAND issue and try patent issues first, as such could provide parties a sense of the overall strength of the SEP portfolio. Courts may adjust the level of interim payments, after patent issues have been resolved, by setting the higher amount if most of the patents have been confirmed valid and infringed or, conversely, lower the amount if most of the patents have been found to be invalid and non-infringed. Interim payments could therefore secure the interests of SEP holders and make holdout strategy more costly, while at the same time dispense the need for injunctions and mitigate the concern about holdup.

Radical innovations prompt significant subsequent technological development and exhibit novelty and "architectural" innovation, i.e. rearranging the way design elements are put together in a system. Thus, radical innovations often serve as the foundation for new technological systems, industries or domains and are seen to involve significant conceptual breakthroughs, through either luck or genius. The much more common incremental innovations are perceived as mere improvements to existing technologies. Decreasing returns from incremental innovation are understood to motivate a search for a new radical innovation to provide a platform for more incremental innovation. However, deeper study shows that the conceptual "distance" a radical breakthrough travels is far shorter than would initially appear. On closer inspection, several innovations with undoubtedly radical effects comprise several small inventive steps that appear self-evident, even logical, to the developers. This conundrum appears to stem from conflating a radical effect with a radical development. What's more, this view of radical innovation views inventions as isolated from the broader currents of technological development. An alternative view sees innovations as embedded in a co-evolutionary socio-technical landscape, where inventions develop in a technological environment and become building blocks for further inventions. Although only inventions adopted for use can be called innovations, "inactive" inventions can also serve as building blocks. In this view, (almost) all steps to innovation are incremental, but the system's self-organized criticality (SOC) allows spontaneous radical effects. This work explores the importance of an evolutionary and SOC view of invention and innovation through agent based models. We develop a simple model capable of simulating the build-out of technologies in a series of simulation experiments. Although all inventions develop incrementally, the model behaviour is expected to exhibit SOC so that some inventions trigger much higher rates of subsequent development than others. Thus, the results are expected to support an evolutionary view of technological development where a radical effect is a consequence of the entire interdependent landscape rather than of the radical development of a specific innovation. The model should be of interest to several research streams concerned with simulating and studying R&D activities.

Coherent responses to important problems such as climate change require involving a multitude of stakeholders in a transformative process leading to development of policy pathways. The process of coming to an agreement on policy pathways requires critical reflection on underlying system conceptualizations and commitment to building capacity in all stakeholders engaged in a social learning process. Simulation models can support such processes by providing a boundary object or negotiating artifact that allows stakeholders to deliberate through a multi-interpretable, consistent, transparent, and verifiable representation of reality. The challenge is how to structure the transdisciplinary process of involving stakeholders in simulation modeling and how to know when such a process can be labeled as transformative. There is a proliferation of approaches for this across disciplines, of which this article identifies Group Model Building, Companion Modeling, Challenge-and-Reconstruct Learning, and generic environmental modeling as the most prominent. This article systematically reviews relevant theories, terminology, principles, and methodologies across these four approaches to build a framework that can facilitate further learning. The article also provides a typology of approaches to modeling with stakeholders. It distinguishes transformative approaches that involve stakeholders from representative, instrumental and nominal forms. It is based on an extensive literature review, supported by twenty-three semi-structured interviews with participatory and non-participatory modelers. The article brings order into the abundance of conceptions of transformation, the role of simulation models in transformative change processes, the role of participation of stakeholders, and what type of approaches to modeling with stakeholders are befitting in the development of policy pathways.

Energy infrastructures such as the electricity grid and natural gas networks are socio-technical systems, complex adaptive systems that exhibit emergence. Their structure, function and performance is the result of actor decisions, technology operation, interconnections and economic transactions. Policy making, regulation, and strategic management which address social and economic issues can be framed as the manipulation of some emergent phenomena. This paper offers a review and analysis of relevant literature on emergence manipulation and interprets work originating in computer science, social science and biological science to develop a 'system' understanding of this approach. We define the notion of 'emergence engineering' to cover emergence manipulation practices. Furthermore, we discuss how we can use this state-of-the-art to underpin and facilitate the management of emergence in socio-technical systems. The review reveals that 'emergence engineering' is mainly used for computing practices. The theories and tools provided therein are applied in biology and the social sciences. The major applicable definition of emergence appears to be the 'design, observation and surprise.' The relation between emergence engineering and self-organization and the effect of downward causation on such practices are also discussed. The review is concluded by a discussion on how current emergence engineering practices can be applied to the study of socio-technical systems.

A case study and computer simulations provide evidence that greenhouse horticulture businesses display diversity and adaptive complexity, both key features of evolution that led Darwin to develop the theory of natural selection in response to the astounding diversity and adaptive complexity of living species. By showing that non-living entities also possess these same evolutionary hallmarks, this paper provides support for attempts to develop Universal Darwinism, a unified theory of evolution that accounts for both living and non-living natural selection.

In this paper the system-decomposition method is presented, which facilitates the process of modeling of complex systems by multidisciplinary teams. Such modeling is non-trivial, because these teams must codify knowledge from different scientific disciplines in order to create models that exhibit realistic behaviour. The system-decomposition method has been developed to facilitate the creation of a standard interface for and between researchers, model parts find computer model, code. The method was applied to three different complex system modeling efforts. The remits demonstrate that It reduces modeling costs, improves model quality and enables the integration of knowledge in multidisciplinary teams, the models they produce and the actual written computer code

In the past decades the advancement of measurement and control techniques have enabled 'intelligent' on-line control and optimisation of large-scale, complex industry and infrastructure systems. It appears, however, that these techniques predominantly have been developed and employed for systems with fixed boundaries, where system content and structure or system behaviour is relatively well-known or predictable. The continuity because of prosperity of many a company today depends on effective automation and control of single industrial facilities, on the optimisation of industrial complexes and the availability and reliability of responsive, flexible infrastructures for energy, utilities and information. Today, in many an industry ICT severely impacts the business environment and the development and design of novel industrial facilities and complexes. The evolution of industry at regional level increasingly is influenced by infrastructure availability. Modern ICT infra, for example, may enable completely new industrial and infrastructure organisation and design concepts, such as distributed generation and manufacturing. In the paper, a framework is presented for modelling and understanding industry-infrastructure coevolution, and implications for the development, design and use of intelligent infrastructure techniques employed.

Dominant digital platforms are under increased scrutiny by regulators around the world, notably competition authorities. Much of the discussion focuses on market access and contestability. However, many doubt whether traditional competition law enforcement can, by itself, be an adequate solution to the challenges posed by dominant digital platforms. Instead, a broader regulatory solution could be devised to ensure effective competition and to provide access to critical platforms or access to data. On the premises that regulation is warranted, this paper considers whether a Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) access regime could be a solution to ensure effective competition, while maintaining the incentives of dominant platforms to innovate. The paper shows that, beyond the application of FRAND in the competition law context, the European Union institutions have consistently used the FRAND regime to ensure access to critical infrastructure or inputs. The FRAND regime has been applied in EU legislation such as standardisation, chemicals, electronic communications framework, public sector information, research framework, vehicles emissions, payment services, credit rating agencies and benchmark regulations. It has proved itself to be a flexible and pragmatic tool, able to apply to different market dynamics and bottlenecks. Drawing out the common elements of this European FRAND access regime, the paper considers how it could be applied as a regulatory solution for dominant digital platforms.