Intellectual property and autonomous vehicles in a gridlock economy. A Submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, and Science and Resource's inquiry into the social issues relating to land-based driveless vehicles in Australia

For emerging technologies such as autonomous vehicles, it is important that the patent system promote high-quality innovation and competition policy. Academic researchers such as Professor Michael Heller and Professor Rebecca Eisenberg have discussed the problem of the ‘tragedy of the anticommons’ and the ‘gridlock economy’. There are also a number of policy responses to trying to address the problem of patent thickets, generally, and, perhaps specifically, in respect of autonomous vehicles. The option of patent pools have been used to resolve the problem of fragmented, overlapping patent rights in certain crowded markets. Cross-licensing can be used in certain circumstances. Public licensing is helpful in respect of inventions, in which there has been public funding. Compulsory licensing can be used to provide access to key inventions – in return for compensation to the patent holder. Competition law and antitrust law can also be invoked in certain exceptional circumstances in which there has been an abuse of intellectual property rights.