How Many Standards in a Laptop? (And Other Empirical Questions)

An empirical study which identifies 251 technical interoperability standards implemented in a modern laptop computer, and estimates that the total number of standards relevant to such a device is much higher. Of the identified standards, the authors find that 44% were developed by consortia, 36% by formal standards development organizations, and 20% by single companies. The intellectual property rights policies associated with 197 of the standards are assessed: 75% were developed under “RAND” terms, 22% under “royalty free” terms, and 3% utilize a patent pool. The authors make certain observations based on their findings, and identify promising areas for future research.

Keywords: standards, SDO, consortia, IPR, RAND, patents

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Biddle, Brad and White, Andrew and Woods, Sean, How Many Standards in a Laptop? (And Other Empirical Questions) (September 10, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1619440 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1619440