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on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Giulio Bottazzi (Sant'Anna School for Advanced Studies, Pisa); Tatiana Plotnikova (DFG Research Training Program "The Economics of Innovative Change", Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to investigate the effect of knowledge characteristics on the total factor productivity of firms developing drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. We decompose knowledge into knowledge associated with the technological firm portfolio and knowledge related to R&D projects, which represent drug development at the clinical testing stage. The latter is attributed to the knowledge of relevant markets where the drugs will be sold. The results show that the effect of technological coherence vs. market coherence and of accumulated knowledge on the productivity of firms differs. Productivity increases with the number of patents and decreases with the patent diversity and project portfolio coherence. When considering only the project knowledge, the diversity of the project portfolio positively affects productivity. |
| Keywords: | total factor productivity, diversity,,coherence, knowledge |
| JEL: | D24 O32 L25 L65 |
| Date: | 2010–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-044&r=ipr |
| By: | Müller-Langer, Frank; Watt, Richard |
| Abstract: | In a recent paper, Prof. Steven Shavell (see Shavell, 2009) has argued strongly in favor of eliminating copyright from academic works. Based upon solid economic arguments, Shavell analyses the pros and cons of removal of copyright and in its place to have a pure open access system, in which authors (or more likely their employers) would provide the funds that keep journals in business. In this paper we explore some of the arguments in Shavell’s paper, above all the way in which the distribution of the sources of journal revenue would be altered, and the feasible effects upon the quality of journal content. We propose a slight modification to a pure open access system which may provide for the best of both the copyright and open access worlds. |
| Keywords: | Open Access; Academic Works; Effects of Removal of Copyrights |
| JEL: | I23 K19 |
| Date: | 2010–06–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:24095&r=ipr |
| By: | Kasturi Das (Research and Information System for Developing Countries) |
| Abstract: | Over the recent past, Geographical Indication (GI) has emerged as one of the most contentious categories of intellectual property (IP). Two among the three TRIPS issues presently under discussion at the WTO pertain to GIs, the third being the relationship between the TRIPS and the CBD. Interestingly, in sharp contrast to the archetypical North-South divide on IP issues in the realm of the WTO and beyond, in the sphere of GIs one comes across developing countries joining hands with developed countries either as demandeurs or opponents in the ongoing WTO talks, depending on their respective stakes on GIs. The aim of this paper is to provide a concise account of the ongoing WTO discussions on GIs. However, the dynamics of the current negotiations cannot be put into perspective unless judged in the light of the key reasons underlying the discordance between the two sides of this highly contentious area, namely the ‘Old World’ and the ‘New World’. With this aim in view, the paper explores some of the key historical, legal and economic reasons underlying the GI row. Given that the issues presently under discussion have their origin in the Uruguay Round negotiations and the compromise deal on GIs that they culminated into, the paper undertakes a rigorous assessment of the drafting history of the Uruguay Round. It then goes on to track the ongoing negotiations and analyzes various negotiating proposals under consideration on the three GI issues: multilateral register for wines and spirits; extension of the higher level of protection presently available for wines and spirits to all product categories; and the ‘claw-back’ proposal of the European Communities (under the agriculture agenda). The paper argues that the recent emergence of a strategic alliance of more than 100 Member countries in support of a parallelism on the three IP issues may be helpful in pushing the GI agenda forward, including the case of ‘extension’ that has been strongly supported by many developing countries including China, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, among others. However, adequate legal protection at the international level through the ‘extension’ route can at best be regarded as necessary but in no way sufficient for reaping the commercial benefits out of the Southern GIs in the global market. Hence, the developing country proponents of GIs need to weigh the costs and benefits among various issues of interest to them before taking any particular stance at the WTO in the future. Given that the aforesaid strategic alliance was reached at the cost of a significant compromise on the part some of these developing countries on the TRIPS/CBD front, it remains an open question whether such a compromise was worth making for these countries, many of whom could actually have benefited more by getting a better deal on TRIPS/CBD than on GIs! |
| Keywords: | geographical indication, intellectual property, WTO, |
| JEL: | F00 F13 F19 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:tradew:2216&r=ipr |
| By: | Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto; OBEGEF); Margarida Catarino (IAPMEI; Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | Despite the large number of publications related to business cooperation in R&D and the wide perception of the importance of intermediary institutions in the R&D cooperation process, empirical studies on its role are scarce, scattered and fragmented. Moreover, the academic work developed in this area is basically of a theoretical nature, whereas the international perspective of R&D cooperation is seldom approached. Departing from a unique database that includes 473 R&D cooperation projects developed within the 6th Framework Programme, involving firms and intermediaries from all European Union countries, this paper gauges the determinants of the importance attached to Intermediaries, through a direct survey to the organizations involved. Based on an estimation of the multivariate model, this study demonstrates that the importance given to Intermediaries depends more on project features than on the characteristics of the participating organizations. In particular, the nationality of participating organizations and the promoter emerged with a strong explanatory power: ceteris paribus, projects with at least one participant from the United Kingdom tend to assign greater importance to intermediaries in international R&D cooperation. Unambiguously, results evidence that the innovating capacity of an organization emerges (both positively and significantly) associated with a greater importance attached to Intermediaries. |
| Keywords: | R&D Cooperation; Intermediaries; International projects; Europe |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:385&r=ipr |