nep-ipr New Economics Papers
on Intellectual Property Rights
Issue of 2009‒05‒23
seven papers chosen by
Roland Kirstein
Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg

  1. How should we support pharmaceutical innovation? By Paul Grootendorst
  2. Languages, Fees and the International Scope of Patenting By Dietmar Harhoff; Karin Hoisl; Bruno van Potteslberghe de la Potterie
  3. Patents, technological inputs and spillovers among regions By Gumbau-Albert, Mercedes; Maudos, Joaquin
  4. Intellectual Property Protection And Technology Transfer The Case Of Overseas R & D By Sunil Kanwar
  5. Innovation, spillovers, and university-industry collaboration: An extended knowledge production function approach By Roderik Ponds; Frank van Oort; Koen Frenken
  6. The impact of academic patenting on university research and its transfer By Gustavo Crespi; Pablo D’Este; Roberto Fontana; Aldo Geuna
  7. An Arrested Virtuous Circle? Higher Education and High-Tech Industries in India By Rakesh Basant

  1. By: Paul Grootendorst
    Abstract: The question as to how society should support pharmaceutical (‘pharma’) innovation is both pertinent and timely: Pharma drugs are an integral component of modern health care and hold the promise to treat more effectively various debilitating health problems. The rate of pharma innovation, however, has declined since the 1980s. Many observers question whether the patent system is capable of providing the appropriate incentives for pharma innovation and point to several promising alternative mechanisms. These mechanisms include both ‘push’ programs – subsidies directed towards the cost of pharma R&D – and ‘pull’ programs – lumpsum rewards for the outputs of pharma R&D, that is, new drugs. I review evidence why our current system of pharma patents is defective and outline the various alternative mechanisms that may spur pharma innovation more effectively.
    Keywords: Pharmaceuticals, R&D, patents, prizes, innovation
    JEL: I18 O34
    Date: 2009–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:246&r=ipr
  2. By: Dietmar Harhoff; Karin Hoisl; Bruno van Potteslberghe de la Potterie
    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
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2009_016&r=ipr
  3. By: Gumbau-Albert, Mercedes; Maudos, Joaquin
    Abstract: This paper analyses the importance of different technological inputs (R&D and human capital) and different spillovers in explaining the differences in patenting among Spanish regions in the period 1986-2003. The analysis is based on the estimation of a knowledge production function. A region’s own R&D activities and human capital are observed to have a positive significant effect on innovation output, measured by the number of patents. R&D spillovers weighted by the distance and the volume of trade flows between regions cause positive effects on a region’s patents. However, distance matters more than the intensity of trade flows and the R&D spillover effects between regions are bounded: spillovers from closer regions perform better than spillovers from distant regions. On the opposite side, human capital spillovers do not cause any effect outside the region itself.
    Keywords: patents; R&D; human capital; spillovers
    JEL: O18 O31 R11
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15260&r=ipr
  4. By: Sunil Kanwar
    Abstract: This paper investigates whether, in what direction, and to what extent one mode of technology transfer – namely, overseas R&D – is influenced by the strength of intellectual property protection that host nations provide. Using data spanning the period 1977-2004, we find weak support at best for the claim that strengthening intellectual property rights will have a significant positive influence on the magnitude of overseas R&D investment by (US) multinationals. This result is found to be robust to dis-aggregation of both the measure of intellectual property protection into its component indices, as well as to dis-aggregation of overseas R&D into industry-specific magnitudes. Instead, the host country market size and availability of local human capital resources are found to be the consistently important explanatory variables. [CDE DSE WP NO 166]
    Keywords: intellectual property; technology transfer; overseas r&d; estimation model
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:1948&r=ipr
  5. By: Roderik Ponds; Frank van Oort; Koen Frenken
    Abstract: This paper analyses the effect of knowledge spillovers from academic research on regional innovation. Spillovers are localized to the extent that the underlying mechanisms are geographically bounded. However, university-industry collaboration - as one of the carriers of knowledge spillovers - is not limited to the regional scale. Consequently, we expect spillovers to take place over longer distances. The effect of university-industry collaboration networks on knowledge spillovers is modelled using an extended knowledge production function framework applied to regions in the Netherlands. We find that the impact of academic research on regional innovation is mediated not only by geographical proximity but also by social networks stemming from collaboration networks.
    Keywords: knowledge production function, knowledge spillovers, university-industry collaboration, innovation, social networks
    JEL: C21 O18 O31 R11
    Date: 2009–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:0903&r=ipr
  6. By: Gustavo Crespi; Pablo D’Este; Roberto Fontana; Aldo Geuna
    Abstract: This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the impact of academic patenting. On the basis of CV information and two separate surveys, we provide the first empirical evidence for a sample of UK academics in physics, chemistry, computer science and a subset of engineering. The main contribution of this paper is twofold. First, our econometric results suggest that academic patenting is complementary to publishing at least up to a certain level of patenting output after which we found some evidence of a substitution effect. Second, our analysis of the potential impact of patenting on the other channels of knowledge transfers seems to indicate that patenting does not have a negative impact on the other channels of knowledge exchange. We have found some positive correlation between the stock of patents and other channels of knowledge transfer, however, also in this case, we have found that a substitution effect sets in indicating a inverted U shape type of relationships between patenting and other knowledge transfer channels.
    Date: 2009–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:icr:wpicer:01-2009&r=ipr
  7. By: Rakesh Basant
    Abstract: A brief but comprehensive overview of linkages between higher education and the high tech sector and study the major linkages in India is provided. It is found that the links outside of the labor market are weak. This is attributed to a regulatory structure that separates research from the university and discourages good faculty from joining, which erodes the quality of the intellectual capital necessary to generate new knowledge. [IIMA WP No. 2009-05-01].
    Keywords: education, high-tech industry, capital, intellectual, labour market, research, university, faculty, Patenting, India, research output
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:1935&r=ipr

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