Royalty Stacking and Validity Challenges: The Inverse Cournot Effect*
发现，当专利持有者的专利强度不同时，逆古诺效应会削弱专利费堆叠问题，因为下游生产商更倾向于挑战弱专利，迫使弱专利持有者降低专利费以避免诉讼，从而增加产出。
This paper shows that the well‐known royalty‐stacking problem is not robust to considering licensors with patents of heterogeneous strength due to the Inverse Cournot effect. The incentives for a downstream producer to challenge a weak patent in court increase when the total royalty rate is lower. The Inverse Cournot effect generates a moderation force in the royalty rate of strong patent holders forcing weak licensors to reduce their royalties to avoid litigation and causing an increase in output. This effect is mitigated when all firms have weak patents, making royalty stacking a more relevant concern in that case.