Intellectual property strategy : analysis of the flash memory industry

This thesis studies the intellectual property strategy of companies in the flash memory industry, with special emphasis on technology and the development of nitride-based flash, a new and emerging type of memory technology. First, general perspectives and frameworks for licensing of patents and know-how are explored. Then, the participants in the flash memory industry are mapped to a product value chain, which is in turn mapped to an intellectual property value chain. We use a patent database analysis software IPVision in order to examine the patent portfolios of some of the memory chip companies. Analysis of the patent positions allows us to draw conclusions about the direction of technology development.

Department dc:contributor.department

Management of Technology Program.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Ogura, Tomoko H

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joseph G. Hadzima, Jr.

• Management of Technology Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37254

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37254