New directions in Technology Transfer

by Jeffery Atik

There continues to be a flow of academic writing and field studies concerning technology transfer, but there are no great breakthroughs to report. That said, there is an observable tiring with neoliberal approaches (which have failed to unlock the puzzle of incentivizing technology transfer). Moving the discussion to more public (if not statist) approaches to technology transfer might restore promise to what has been a disappointing field.

Collaborations do appear to be a promising institutional response; they have been reportedly successfully deployed in achieving advances in approaches to neglected diseases (such as Ebola) and climate change technologies. Collaborations are inherently public-private and can be structured to include (as full research partners) LDC institutions. These collaborations may feature government entities from the developed world, specialized development agencies, NGOs (who often coordinate), and university and state laboratories. They include private firms that carry out much of the focused technological development. As such, the success of a collaboration (as measured by innovation outcomes) depends on an effective design of incentives. Market-based financial rewards (licensing, sale of firms, IPOs) are replaced by funded contract research (similar to what occurs in defense fields) and/or prizes. Disengaging from the market permits research targeting - the ability to focus the collaboration on LDC needs and circumstances. For technology transfer to result, there must be meaningful inclusion of LDC institutions and personnel in the collaboration. LDC collaborators should not be mere observers; they make important contributions, particularly with regard to molding innovation to match the LDC environment where the technology will be deployed.

Apple loses appeal in e-book antitrust case - Part 3

This is the third and final comment in a series on the Second Circuit’s June 30 decision in the Apple e-books antitrust case.

The Second Circuit's decision in the Apple e-book case contains a rather acrimonious exchange between Judge Debra Livingston (author of the majority opinion) and Judge Dennis Jacobs (the dissenting judge) - which is a bit unfortunate, as there is much to harvest from their debate. The judges directly address each other - and are unsparing in their disdain for the other's theory of the case. Livingston may have the better of the argument (and she in part writes for the majority), but there is much to value in Jacobs's dissent as well. This is the final comment in a series examining the Apple e-book case (Part I and Part 2 of the series examine the background and the majority theory of liability, respectively). This comment examines Judge Jacobs's dissent and the ideas behind it.

Let's first look at the rather broad zone of agreement between Jacobs and the majority of the panel. Jacobs has no illusions about Apple's bruising conduct - he accepts Apple's forceful role in moving e-book distribution towards commissioned agency pricing. But he doesn't view Apple's conduct (when considered together with the e-book publishers) as constituting per se price fixing. Rather, he believes that any agreement among Apple and the e-book publishers should be evaluated according to the Rule of Reason - and he would further find that application of the Rule, given the Amazon-imposed market structure for e-books prior to Apple's iPad introduction, compels discharging Apple of antitrust liability (recall the e-book publishers had settled with the government prior to the litigation, accepting that they at least engaged in questionable pricing behavior).

Apple loses appeal in e-books antitrust case - Part 2

This is the second in a series of comments on the Second Circuit’s June 30 decision in the Apple e-books antitrust case.

The Second Circuit has upheld a federal trial court finding that Apple, together with five of the so-called "Big Six" publishing companies, fixed prices for e-book editions of new issues and New York Times best sellers. The e-book reader market had been (and continues to be) dominated by Amazon's Kindle platform, first introduced in 2007; Kindle is an e-bookstore, an e-book format (including a digital rights management system), a cloud-based storage system, and a suite of e-readers. When Apple introduced its more general purpose iPad in 2010, it commenced competing with Amazon's Kindle across all these dimensions. Importantly, Apple sought to distribute e-books and so required access to the major publishers' catalog.

Amazon had been selling most new release and New York Times bestseller e-books below cost, attracting legions of readers to the Kindle ecosystem with its $9.99 pricing. Apple cleverly upset Amazon's $9.99 pricing policy by positioning itself as a sales agent (and not a retailer) of e-books, taking a 30% commission on sales. Apple thus generally restored retail pricing authority to the publishers. Apple's agency contracts, however. required e-book retail prices on iPad to match those offered on Amazon. This 'most favored nation' obligation drove the publishers to renegotiate their distribution deals with Amazon. Collectively (and with Apple playing an active coordinating role), the book publishers placed Amazon on an agency basis as well. The publishers then immediately raised e-book retail prices across both platforms - a surprising result in a market that appeared to be growing more competitive through the introduction of the iPad.

Apple loses appeal in e-books antitrust case

This is the first of a series of comments on the Second Circuit’s June 30, 2015 decision in the Apple e-books antitrust case.

Through a series of spectacular commercial moves, Apple succeeded in disrupting the e-book space upon its 2009 release of the iPad, sweeping away Amazon Kindle’s popular $9.99 pricing for new releases and for New York Times best-sellers. The iPad brought meaningful competition to Amazon’s wildly successful Kindle as an e-book platform; the emergence of this new distribution channel raised e-book prices, whether purchased on iPads or Kindles, seemingly defying an economic law of gravity. It was a coup that only a Steve Jobs could pull off. The e-book price shift attracted the attention of federal and state antitrust authorities. In 2012, the government brought a civil antitrust action against Apple and five major publishers. The book publishers settled, and the government proceeded in a price fixing claim against Apple. On June 30, a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal trial court’s finding that Apple violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act.