An Organizational Perspective on Patenting and Partnering: Unpacking Capacities to Manage Participation in Patent Pools

Abstract

In this research, we investigate how firms manage their participation in patent pools, which are private interorganizational arrangements for sharing patents on a large scale. Drawing on the licensing and open innovation literature, we develop a conceptual framework to analyze the organizational capacities that enable firms to manage their participation in patent pools. We illustrate and enrich this conceptual framework through an in‐depth study of Technicolor. Our findings show that the company develops and leverages its patent portfolio to strengthen its positions both as a licensee and licensor vis‐à‐vis the pools’ members through two articulated capacities: absorptive and desorptive. We also reveal how the company assesses opportunities to join patent pools and continues to integrate more patents. The organizational perspective articulated in this paper enhances the understanding of patent pools and expands the literature on licensing and open innovation.