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on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Luigi Marengo; Corrado Pasquali; Marco Valente; Giovanni Dosi |
| Abstract: | The economic theory of intellectual property rights is based on a rather narrow view of both competition and technological knowledge. We suggest some ways of enriching this framework with a more empirically grounded view of both and, by means of a simulation model, we analyze the impact of different property right regimes on the dynamics of a complex product industry, that is an industry where products are complex multi-component objects and competition takes place mainly through differentiation and component innovation. We show that, as the complexity of the product spaces increases, stronger patent regimes yield lower rates of innovation, lower product quality and lower consumers' welfare. localized ones. |
| Keywords: | patents; appropriability of innovation; complex product industries; industrial dynamics |
| JEL: | O31 O34 L11 |
| Date: | 2009–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2009/05&r=ipr |
| By: | Harhoff, Dietmar; Hoisl, Karin; van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes firms’ choices regarding the geographic scope of patent protection within the European patent system. We develop an econometric model at the patent level to quantify the impact of office fees and translation costs on firms’ decision to validate a patent in a particular country once it has been granted by the EPO. These costs have been disregarded in previous studies. The results suggest that both translation costs and fees for validation and renewals have a strong influence on the behavior of applicants. The estimates are then employed to simulate the impact of the London Protocol, a recent policy reform which reduces translation requirements in the European patent system. National validations of patents granted by the EPO are estimated to increase by 29%. |
| Keywords: | patents; patent fees; patent validation; renewal fees; translation costs |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O38 O57 |
| Date: | 2009–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:msmdpa:10456&r=ipr |
| By: | Jay Pil Choi |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a framework to analyze the incentives to form a patent pool or engage in cross-licensing arrangements in the presence of uncertainty about the validity and coverage of patents that makes disputes inevitable. It analyzes the private incentives to litigate and compares them with the social incentives. It shows that pooling arrangements can have the effect of sheltering invalid patents from challenges. This result has an antitrust implication that patent pools should not be permitted until after patentees have challenged the validity of each otherfs patents if litigation costs are not too large. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hst:ghsdps:gd08-044&r=ipr |
| By: | Lerner, Josh (Harvard business School); Strömberg, Per (Institute for Financial Research); Sörensen, Morten (Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | A long-standing controversy is whether LBOs relieve managers from short-term pressures from public shareholders, or whether LBO funds themselves are driven by short-term profit motives and sacrifice long-term growth to boost short-term performance. We investigate 495 transactions with a focus on one form of long-term activities, namely investments in innovation as measured by patenting activity. We find no evidence that LBOs are associated with a decrease in these activities. Relying on standard measures of patent quality, we find that patents granted to firms involved in private equity trans actions are more cited (a proxy for economic importance), show no significant shifts in the fundamental nature of the research, and are more concentrated in the most important and prominent areas of companies' innovative portfolios. |
| Keywords: | Private equity; patents; innovation; short-termism |
| JEL: | G24 G32 O31 |
| Date: | 2009–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sifrwp:0066&r=ipr |
| By: | Stéphane Lhuillery (Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation, Collège du Management de la Technologie, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | Standard innovation surveys do not consider incoming spillovers for non-innovative firms. The Swiss innovation surveys presented here measure the importance of competitors' knowledge for both innovating and noninnovating firms. This original feature not only enables us to accurately identify the role of incoming knowledge on R&D decisions and innovation output, but also to compare resulting data with those which standard innovation questionnaires provide. Using a panel data over four periods, we show that knowledge from rivals actually deters manufacturing firms from engaging in R&D activities. Moreover, we provide stronger evidence that intra-industry spillovers are more detrimental to innovation than that generally provided by data from standard surveys. The results suggest that the dominance of the absorptive capacity effect is more important to firms investing in R&D and that non-innovative firms rely more heavily than expected on their competitors to maintain their technological capacities. |
| Keywords: | intra-industry spillovers, absorption, innovation survey |
| JEL: | O31 C35 C81 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmi:wpaper:cemi-workingpaper-2009-005&r=ipr |
| By: | Shih-tse Lo; Dhanoos Sutthiphisal |
| Abstract: | A switch to a first-to-file patent regime from its first-to-invent system has become imminent for the U.S. To learn about probable effects of such a policy change, we examine a similar switch that occurred in Canada in 1989. We find that the switch failed to stimulate Canadian R&D efforts. Nor did it have any effects on overall patenting. However, the reforms had a small adverse effect on domestic-oriented industries and skewed the ownership structure of patented inventions towards large corporations, away from independent inventors and small businesses. These findings challenge the merits of adopting a first-to-file patent regime. |
| JEL: | O3 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14926&r=ipr |
| By: | Iversen, Eric (NIFU STEP Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, Oslo, Norway); Mäkinen, Iiro (ETLA, Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, Helsinki, Finland); Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Oh, Dong-Hyun (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Jespersen, Svend (Centre for Economics and Business Research, CEBR, Copenhagen, Denmark); Junge, Martin (Centre for Economics and Business Research, CEBR, Copenhagen, Denmark); Bech, Jonas (Centre for Economics and Business Research, CEBR, Copenhagen, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of a pan-Nordic study to explore how small and medium-size enterprises use IPR. It is a pilot study that demonstrates a commonly developed approach designed to overcome the barriers that hinder study of IPR use by small firms. The pilot study focuses particularly on patenting, based on the common approach linking national business registries with patent applicants. This is the first cross-country project of its kind to develop and execute such an exercise. It applies available definitions and approaches to improve comparability in the Nordic area and with other efforts (such as the OECD patent name harmonization activity). The intention is to demonstrate how this cross-country approach can address the needs of policymakers in the Nordic countries for reliable and comparative information about IPR use among the smallest firms. |
| Keywords: | SMEs; patenting; firm size |
| JEL: | F43 L26 M13 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2009–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0178&r=ipr |
| By: | Gabrielsson, Jonas; Politis, Diamanto; Tell, Joakim |
| Abstract: | There has been an increasing interest in the determinants and outcomes of successful technology transfer and commercialization of research results. In this study we test the validity of the “knowledge corridor” thesis for explaining the involvement of university professors’ in the early stages of research commercialization. Statistical analysis on a sample of 86 respondents from engineering, natural science and medical faculties in a large Swedish university shows that both entrepreneurial and private industry experience significantly influence their ability to spot and generate business ideas in their research. Moreover, we find that research based business idea generation increase at a faster rate for professors with private sector work experience who have more time for research in their positions. The article ends with a discussion of our empirical findings together with its implications for support activities related to technology transfer and commercialization of research results. |
| Keywords: | academic entrepreneurship, knowledge corridor, research commercialization |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 O34 O38 N5 O47 R58 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cil:wpaper:170&r=ipr |