Stanford Interdisciplinary Working Group on Interoperability: Report and Preliminary Recommendations

Abstract

On January 19-20, 2023 at Stanford University, the Stanford Interdisciplinary Working Group on Interoperability met to discuss the future of interoperability and whether there were ways to make progress towards the goal of facilitating competition and access across platforms. The group, which was convened by Professor Mark A. Lemley of Stanford Law School, included nearly 40 people from tech firms and nonprofits, and scholars in law, business, policy, technology, economics, and medicine.

Our discussions covered a great deal of territory over the two days on topics including (1) intellectual property and other legal barriers to interoperability, (2) antitrust and regulatory opportunities and issues, (3) technical implementation, (4) economic models, and (5) privacy and cybersecurity. The working group did not come to consensus on a broad right to interoperability, but we identified a number of questions, principles, and opportunities that may be a useful and promising basis for future work, as well as specific suggestions for reform that had broad support.

This report summarizes the principles and opportunities to improve interoperability.