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on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Malwina Mejer; Bruno van Potteslberghe de la Potterie |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that the consequences of the ‘fragmentation’ of the European patent system are more dramatic than the mere prohibitive costs of maintaining a patent in force in many jurisdictions. First, detailed analysis of judicial systems in several European countries and four case studies provide evidence suggesting that heterogeneous national litigation costs, practices and outcome induce a high level of uncertainty. Second, a high degree of managerial complexity results from systemic incongruities due to easier ‘parallel imports’, possible ‘time paradoxes’ and the de facto paradox of having EU-level competition policy and granting authority ultimately facing national jurisdictional primacy on patent issues. These high degrees of uncertainty and complexity contribute to reduce the effectiveness of the European patent system and provide additional arguments in favour of the Community patent and a centralized litigation in Europe. |
| Keywords: | European patent system, patent cost, litigation process, enforcement, uncertainty |
| JEL: | K41 P14 O34 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2009_003&r=ipr |
| By: | Katariina Nilsson Hakkala; Bertrand; Norbäck Olivier; Persson Pehr-Johan; Lars |
| Abstract: | We analyze how the entry mode of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) affects affiliate R&D activities. Using unique affiliate level data for Swedish multinational firms, we first present empirical evidence that acquired affiliates have a higher level of R&D intensity than Greenfield (start-up) affiliates. This gap persists over time and with the age of the affiliates, as well as for different firm types and industries. To explain this finding, we develop an acquisitioninvestment-oligopoly model where we show that for a foreign acquisition to take place in equilibrium, the acquiring MNE must invest sufficiently in sequential R&D in the affiliate. Otherwise, rivals will expand their business, thus making the acquisition unprofitable. Two additional predictions of the model ? that foreign firms acquire high-quality domestic firms and that the gap in R&D between acquired and greenfield affiliates decreases in acquisition transaction costs ? are consistent with the data. JEL classification: F23, L10, L20, O30 |
| Keywords: | FDI, M&A, R&D, Multinational Firms |
| Date: | 2008–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:dpaper:459&r=ipr |
| By: | Guido Cozzi; Giammario Impullitti |
| Abstract: | In this paper we argue that government spending played a significant role in stimulating the wave of innovation that hit the U.S. economy in the late 1970s and in the 1980s, as well as the simultaneous increase in inequality and in education attainment. Since the late 1970’s U.S. policy makers began targeting commercial innovations more directly and explicitly. We focus on the shift in the composition of public demand towards high-tech goods which, by increasing the market-size of innovative firms, functions as a de-facto innovation policy tool. We build a quality-ladder non- scale growth model with heterogeneous industries and endogenous supply of skills, and show that increases in the technological content of public spending stimulates R&D, raise the wage of skilled workers and, at the same time, stimulate human capital accumulation. A calibrated version of the model suggests that government policy explains between 12 and 15 percent of the observed increase in wage inequality in the period 1976-91. |
| Keywords: | R&D-driven growth theory, heteregeneous industries, fiscal policy composition, innovation policy, wage inequality, educational choice. |
| JEL: | E62 H57 J31 O31 O32 O41 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gla:glaewp:2009_02&r=ipr |
| By: | Olena Ivus |
| Abstract: | The WTO inspired strengthening of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in developing countries remains highly controversial even 15 years after the 1994 TRIPs agreement. This paper employs both theory and empirics to assess how a strengthening of IPRs affects international technology diffusion by altering the volume of high-tech exports into developing countries. In the context of a North-South general equilibrium model,stronger IPRs encourage Northern firms to introduce new high-tech products in the South. High-tech exports to the South rise, while low-tech exports may fall. International technology diffusion does not necessarily fall. These theoretical predictions are examined empirically. On average,developing countries that strengthened their IPRs under the TRIPs agreement saw an increase of approximately $50 billion (1994 US dollars) in their high-tech imports. This amount is equivalent to a 13% increase in their annual value of high-tech imports. |
| JEL: | F10 K33 O34 |
| Date: | 2009–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clg:wpaper:2009-02&r=ipr |
| By: | Scherer, F. M. (Harvard U) |
| Abstract: | This paper, written for a conference at the University of Lisbon, surveys patterns since the 16th century in the governance of communications service providers--in order, the mails, telegraphy, the telephone, and radio. It analyzes the tendency for many communications service enterprises to be publicly-owned and identifies reasons for the exceptions. Tasks subject to either public control or regulation are identified--e.g., route structure, pricing, patent stalemates, technological standards, physical interfaces and interoperability, electromagnetic spectrum allocation, and the privacy of communications. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp08-050&r=ipr |
| By: | Scherer, F. M. (Harvard U) |
| Abstract: | This paper, written for a conference of the Society for Economic Research on Copyright Issues, explores the history of copyright protection for musical compositions. The first modern copyright law did not cover musical works. The role of Johann Christian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Neopmuk Hummel in securing legal changes is traced. How Giuseppe Verdi exploited the new copyright law in Northern Italy is analyzed. The paper argues that Verdi, enriched by copyright protection, reduced his compositional effort along a backward-bending supply curve. However, his good fortune may have had a demonstration effect inducing other talented individuals to become composers. An attempt to determine the impact of legal changes on entry into composing is inconclusive. The paper shows, however, that a golden age of musical composition nevertheless occurred in nations that lacked copyright protection for musical works. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp08-052&r=ipr |
| By: | Kristjanson, Patti (?); Reid, Robin (?); Dickson, Nancy (?); Clark, William C. (Harvard U); Vishnubhotla, Prasad (?); Romney, Dannie (?); Bezkorowajnyj, Peter (?); Said, Mohammed (?); Kaelo, Dickson (?); Makui, Ogeli (?); Nkedianye, David (?); Nyangaga, Julius (?); Okwi, Paul (?); Puskur, Ranjitha (?); Tarawali, Shirley (?); MacMillan, Susan (?); Grace, Delia (?); Randolph, Tom (?); Affognon, Hippolyte (?) |
| Abstract: | This paper asks "What kinds of approaches and institutions, under what sorts of conditions, are most effective for harnessing scientific knowledge in support of strategies for environmentally sustainable development and poverty alleviation?" In applying an innovative conceptual framework to a diverse set of sustainable poverty-focused projects undertaken in numerous African and Asian countries, we found that strategies key to closing gaps between knowledge and action include: combining different kinds of knowledge, learning and bridging approaches, strong and diverse partnerships that level the playing field, and building capacity to innovate and communicate. |
| JEL: | O13 O16 O17 O31 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp08-045&r=ipr |