Technology Standards and Standards Organizations: Introduction to the Searle Center Database

Justus Baron, Research Associate, Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth, Northwestern University Law School, and Danie. F. Spulber, Elinor Hobbs Distinguished Professor of International Business, Department of Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University,

11/04/2015
(Original Publish Date: 9/8/2015)

This article describes the Searle Center Database on Technology Standards and Standard Setting Organizations (SSO). This is the first large scale database with information on technology standards, SSO membership and SSO characteristics that is designed for economic research. In particular, the database includes data on quantifiable characteristics of 629,438 standard documents issued by 598 SSOs, institutional membership in a sample of 195 SSOs, and the rules of 36 SSOs on standard-essential patents (SEPs), openness, participation and standard adoption procedures. Using the Internet Archives, the database tracks both institutional membership and the SSO rules and procedures over time since the inception of the Archives in 1996. We identify more than 62,368 firms and other organizations participating in at least one SSO. The paper describes how to combine this data with other new databases and sketches avenues for empirical research