nep-ipr New Economics Papers
on Intellectual Property Rights
Issue of 2024‒04‒15
four papers chosen by
Giovanni Battista Ramello, Università di Turino


  1. Are Firms Able to Take Advantage of Academic Advances? By OROKU Masahiro
  2. The Feasibility of Using Bayh-Dole March-In Rights to Lower Drug Prices: An Update By Lisa Larrimore Ouellette; Bhaven N. Sampat
  3. Legalist and realist decision-making in patent law: Validity cases in Germany By Hoffmann, Jakob; Glückler, Johannes; Khuchua, Tamar; Lachapelle, Francois; Lazega, Emmanuel; Zipf, Marius
  4. Designations of Origin as Brand for Agro-Food Market: The Case of Spanish Wine Producers By Garcia-Galan, Mar

  1. By: OROKU Masahiro
    Abstract: This study uses patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (applied before 2011) to analyze the relationship among the value of patents, account information of patent-holding firms, and citations of academic papers empirically. The results are summarized as follows: First, profitable firms tend to cite papers more frequently than other firms. Second, patents that cite academic papers have more forward citations than other patents do. Third, patents that cite academic papers are cited in a wider range of technical fields than those that do not. These results imply that incorporating academic knowledge increases patent value, expands utilization range, and increases firm profitability. This situation has implications for science and technology policy. Providing public support may be important if firms with low-profit firms cannot access academic knowledge because of the lack of human and material resources.
    Date: 2024–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:24036&r=ipr
  2. By: Lisa Larrimore Ouellette; Bhaven N. Sampat
    Abstract: In December 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration released a proposed framework for exercising government “march-in” rights on high-priced taxpayer-funded drugs. While both proponents and critics of the new rules view them as having broad scope, march-in rights can be exercised only on patents that result from federally funded research, and they can enable generic entry only if all patents on a drug were public-sector patents. In this paper, we examine the feasibility of using march-in rights to lower pharmaceutical prices by examining patents on drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1985 to 2022. Our primary analyses focus on the 883 new molecular entities with at least one patent listed in the FDA’s Orange Book since 1985. While 9 percent of these drugs have a public-sector patent, only 2.5 percent have only public-sector patents. While the new march-in rules could be a tool to lower prices for a few drugs, their overall impact on prices or expenditures will likely be limited. In addition to the updated analyses, we provide links to the data used in the analyses.
    JEL: I18 O3
    Date: 2024–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32217&r=ipr
  3. By: Hoffmann, Jakob (LMU Munich); Glückler, Johannes; Khuchua, Tamar; Lachapelle, Francois; Lazega, Emmanuel; Zipf, Marius
    Abstract: While realist approaches towards judicial decision-making have become predomi- nant, their appropriateness is much less obvious for specialized or technical fields of law, such as patent litigation, and evidence is much scarcer than for generalist courts. Addressing this scarcity, the paper assesses judge-level variation in deci- sion outcomes based on a sample of 1, 722 collegial decisions on patent validity at the German Federal Patent Court. Using a Bayesian mixed membership multilevel model, we find that after controlling for variation due to other contextual factors, there remains significant statistical variation in the propensity to nullify a patent at the level of individual judges. However, judge effects are relatively weak and uncer- tain, indicating mitigation of individual deviation through collegiality. We conclude by discussing the relevance of consistent judicial outcomes beyond the studied con- text and especially in transnational harmonization processes, such as initialized by the recent establishment of the Unified Patent Court.
    Date: 2024–03–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:p354r&r=ipr
  4. By: Garcia-Galan, Mar
    Abstract: Vine culture is one of the most important farming activities in countries from Southern Europe. In particular, Spain is one of the main wine producing countries in the world. Designations of origin have become important brands in the agro-food market to sell products. In the Spanish agro-food market, designations of origin have been established during the last three decades and wine products have been adapted to these protection forms. Spain can represent a good example of analysis of how PDO`s have been established and how wine products (as the main agro food product) have been adapted to these protection forms. The winemakers have been strongly engaged towards their designations of origin showing a clear commitment to this form of protection of agro-food products, promoting and strengthening their brands, aware that the consumer perceives the product's quality. The presence in the markets of PDO wine is consolidated upon time. Also, during the last three decades Spanish winemakers have faced critical situations. Besides the problems arising, the wine designations of origin maintain a solid presence in the agro-food market, giving a solid base to firms.
    Date: 2024–03–22
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:cfg5w&r=ipr

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