Standards Development Organizations as Two-Sided Markets

By Anne Layne-Farrar – 

Payment cards and dating websites may be the most famous examples of two-sided markets, but technology standard development organizations (“SDOs”) offer another example of two-sided platforms. How SDOs set the rules for their members can have wide-reaching effects – including on the SDO’s ability to attract and keep participants. This short note explains how SDO governance rules, and the procedures for forming governance committees, impact SDO member partic