nep-ipr New Economics Papers
on Intellectual Property Rights
Issue of 2013‒07‒28
six papers chosen by
Giovanni Ramello
Universita' Amedeo Avogadro

  1. Patent protection under endogenous product differentiation By Arijit Mukherjee
  2. Patents in the University: Priming the Pump and Crowding Out By Suzanne Scotchmer
  3. Empirical studies of trade marks - the existing economic literature By Christine Greenhalgh; Philipp Schautschick
  4. Science, Technology, Innovation and IP in India - New Directions and Prospects By Christine Greenhalgh
  5. New empirical findings for international investment in intangible assets By Martin Falk
  6. THE 3 C’S MODEL OF MILLENNIALS BRAND AWARENESS By Martim Coutinho dos Santos; Susana Costa e Silva

  1. By: Arijit Mukherjee (School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, UK)
    Abstract: It is generally believed that patent pools by complementary input suppliers make the consumers, final goods producers and the society better off by reducing the complements problem. We show that this may not be the case under endogenous technology choice. Although a patent pool reduces input price, it may make the consumers and the society worse off by reducing innovation. We also show that a patent pool makes the input suppliers better off, but it may not make all final goods producers better off compared with non-cooperation between the input suppliers.
    Keywords: Complementary inputs; Patent pool; Innovation; Welfare
    JEL: L13 O31
    Date: 2013–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lbo:lbowps:2013_07&r=ipr
  2. By: Suzanne Scotchmer
    Abstract: The Bayh-Dole Act allows universities to exploit patents on their federally sponsored research. University laboratories therefore have two sources of funds: direct grants from sponsors and income from licensing. Tax credits for private R&D also contribute, because they increase the profitability of licensing. Because Bayh-Dole profits are a source of funds, the question arises how subsidies and Bayh-Dole profits fit together. I show that subsidies to the university can either "prime the pump" for spending out of Bayh-Dole funds, or can crowd it out. Because of crowding out, if the sponsor wants to increase university spending beyond the university's own target, it will end up funding the entire research bill, just as if there were no profit opportunities under the Bayh-Dole Act. A subsidy system that requires university matching can mitigate this problem.
    JEL: K0 L00 O34
    Date: 2013–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19252&r=ipr
  3. By: Christine Greenhalgh; Philipp Schautschick
    Abstract: This paper surveys empirical studies employing trade mark data that exist in the economic literature to date.  Section 1) documents the use of trade marks by firms in several advanced countries including Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, 2) reviews different attempts to gauge the function of a trade mark as indicator of innovation and product differentiation, and 3) provides an overview of the association of trade marks with dimensions of firm performance and productivity.  Sections 4) and 5) give accounts of studies that focus on the social costs and value of trade marks, namely their importance for firm survival, their impact on demand, and firms' incentives to innovate but also to raise rivals' costs.  Section 6) covers first endeavours to investigate the interplay between different types of intellectual property rights, while 7) briefly concludes.
    Keywords: Intellectual property, trade marks, empirical studies
    JEL: O33 O34
    Date: 2013–06–21
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:659&r=ipr
  4. By: Christine Greenhalgh
    Abstract: This paper begins by surveying recent economic studies of the relationships between technology transfer, intellectual property, innovation and diffusion in emerging countries.  It applies this literature to the Indian case.  India  is a potentially useful case study for several reasons.  India has recently been experiencing rapid growth and has several high technology sectors staffed by an absolutely large and highly educated middle class.  At the same time an even larger share of its very big population is still working in low productivity agriculture and many of these people are living in extreme poverty. To reduce poverty and improve agricultural productivity India will need to create jobs in labour intensive production and distribution sectors to employ its vast army of unskillled workers.  The second part of the paper outlines how industry structure and innovative performance have been progressing in India following the economic reforms of the early 90s and the changes to intellectual property law occasioned by the TRIPS agreement and membership of the World Trade Organisation. In the third section the focus turns to recent science, technology and innovation policy in India.  A study of the country's potential for innovation by the World Bank in 2007 argued that India must proceed on two fronts.  In addition to considering how India's growth prospects can be enhanced by world leading innovations, this volume placed great emphasis on inclusive innovation.  This may involve mainly the diffusion and absorption of existing knowledge, but is designed to improve the lot of the poor.  The World Bank report proposed a number of new policy directions aimed at speeding up innovation and technology diffusion in India.  We attempt to record what changes have been made to innovation policy, foreign direct investment policy and diffusion policy in India in recent years and assess whether these are likely to be effective.
    Keywords: Innovation, intellectual property, science policy, innovation policy, TRIPS
    JEL: O2 O3
    Date: 2013–06–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:660&r=ipr
  5. By: Martin Falk
    Abstract: This study empirically analyses the determinants of greenfield investment in intangible assets in emerging and industrialized countries. Data consists of host parent country pairs of greenfield FDI projects in (i) software (except video games), (ii) advertising, public relations and related activities, (iii) headquarters, (iv) research & development and (v) design, development & testing. With a world market share of 33 per cent in 2011 in terms of the number of projects, descriptive statistics show that the EU 27 is one of the most important locations for international greenfield investment in intangible assets. However, there was a decline in the EU 27s share of such projects after the recent financial and economic crisis, which is mainly due to the decrease in intra-EU greenfield FDI activities. In contrast, FDI inflows in intangible assets increased in the United States, in other non EU OECD countries and in emerging countries. Among the EU countries of Ireland, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and Sweden are the most attractive locations for Non-EU investors, whereas the southern and East EU countries are least successful in attracting FDI projects in intangible assets. The results using fixed and random effects negative binomial regression models for 40 host and 26 parent countries during the period 2003–2010 show that FDI in intangible assets depends significantly positively on quantity of human capital, quality of human capital measured as the PISA score in maths and reading, costs of starting a business, broadband penetration, strength of investor protection, R&D endowment and direct R&D subsidies. Wage costs (or unit labour costs) have a significant negative impact on FDI inflows in intangible assets. Other policy factors, such as labour market regulations, product, or FDI regulations, do not have a significant impact. Separate estimates for the EU-27 countries show that corporate taxes matter for the international location decision for intangible assets. The empirical results presented may help to develop a proactive action plan to attract international investments in intangible assets in Europe.
    Keywords: Innovation, innovation policy, intangible assets
    JEL: O3
    Date: 2013–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2013:m:7:d:0:i:30&r=ipr
  6. By: Martim Coutinho dos Santos (Faculdade de Economia e Gestão, Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Porto); Susana Costa e Silva (Faculdade de Economia e Gestão, Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Porto)
    Abstract: With numbers estimated as high as 70 million, Generation Y (also known as the Millennials) is the fastest growing segment of today’s workforce. But they are also demanding consumers with characteristics firms ought to understand for better capture the value they may also be able to provide. This paper aims at understanding better what the millennials profile is in terms of buying behaviour and proposes a model for the development of millennial digital marketing strategies that can be useful both, to firms and academics, to anchor more efficient marketing strategies.
    Keywords: millennials, generation Y, generational cohort, digital marketing, segmentation.
    Date: 2013–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cap:mpaper:022013&r=ipr

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