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Stable profit sharing in a patent licensing game: general bargaining outcomes

International Journal of Game Theory volume 37, pages 505–523 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

By considering coalition structures formed by an external licensor of a patented technology and oligopolistic firms, we investigate licensing agreements that can be reached as bargaining outcomes under those coalition structures. The following results hold in a generalized patent licensing game. The core for a coalition structure is always empty, unless the grand coalition forms. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the nonemptiness of the core (for the grand coalition). If the number of licensees that maximizes licensees’ total surplus is greater than the number of existing non-licensees, each symmetric bargaining set for a coalition structure is a singleton, and the optimal number of licensees that maximizes the licensor’s revenue is uniquely determined.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Systems and Management, Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8573, Japan

    Naoki Watanabe

  2. Department of Social Engineering, Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Oh-okayama, Meguro, Tokyo, 152-8552, Japan

    Shigeo Muto

Authors
  1. Naoki Watanabe
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  2. Shigeo Muto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Naoki Watanabe.

Additional information

The authors wish to thank the chief editor, anonymous referees, and participants in the 10th DC (Japan), the 3rd ICMA, and the 17th Stony Brook conference for helpful comments and suggestions. Thanks are extended to Ryo Kawasaki for editing English. They are partially supported by the MEXT Grant-in-Aid for 21 Century COE Program, Grant-in-Aid 18730517 (Watanabe), and Grant-in-Aid 16310107 (Muto).

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Watanabe, N., Muto, S. Stable profit sharing in a patent licensing game: general bargaining outcomes. Int J Game Theory 37, 505–523 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00182-008-0130-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00182-008-0130-9

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