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on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Hall, Bronwyn H. (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, Institute of Fiscal Studies, University of California-Berkeley, and NBER); Thoma, Grid (CESPRI, Bocconi University, and University of Camerino); Torrisi, Salvatore (Department of Management, University of Bologna, and CESPRI, Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | We take a first look at financial patents at the European Patent Office (EPO). As is the case at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the number of financial patents in Europe has increased significantly in parallel with significant changes in payment and financial systems. Scholars have argued that financial patents, like other business methods patents, have low value and are owned for strategic reasons rather than for protecting real inventions. We find that established firms in non-financial sectors with diversified patent portfolios own a large share of financial patents at the EPO. However, new specialized technology providers in the financial area also hold a number of such patents. Decisions on the financial patent applications take longer and they are more likely to be refused by the patent office, suggesting greater uncertainty over validity than for other patents. They are also more likely to be opposed, which is consistent with the fact that their other economic value indicators are higher. |
| Keywords: | market valuation, intangible assets, patents, software, Europe |
| JEL: | G20 L86 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010011&r=ipr |
| By: | Hall, Bronwyn H. (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, Institute of Fiscal Studies, University of California-Berkeley, and NBER) |
| Abstract: | Two court decisions in the 1990s are widely viewed as having opened the door to a flood of business method and financial patents at the US Patent and Trademark Office, and to have also impacted other patent offices around the world. A number of scholars, both legal and economic, have critiqued both the quality of these patents and the decisions themselves. This paper reviews the history of business method and financial patents briefly and then explores what economists know about the relationship between the patent system and innovation, in order to draw some tentative conclusions about their likely impact. It concludes by finding some consensus in the literature about the problems associated with this particular expansion of patentable subject matter, highlighting the remaining areas of disagreement, and reviewing the various policy recommendations. |
| Keywords: | intellectual property, State Street, software, internet, business methods, patents, innovation |
| JEL: | G28 K2 L86 O34 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010010&r=ipr |
| By: | Andreas Freytag (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Sebastian von Engelhardt (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the impact of institutional and cultural factors on a remarkable economic activity: the production of so-called open source software (OSS). OSS is marked by free access to the software and its source code. Copyright-based OSS licenses permit users to use, change, improve and redistribute the software, which is designed and developed in a public, collaborative manner. OSS seems to be an example of a 'private provision of a public good'. While the supply-side microeconomics of OSS (individual characteristics of OSS developers, role of firms etc.) are well explored, it is not known which institutional and cultural factors explain different OSS activities across countries. For this reason, we perform a cross-country study analyzing how the number of OSS developers per inhabitants and the level of OSS activity of a country depend on institutional and cultural factors. Our findings are that a culture characterized by individualism/self-determination, abundance of social capital interpreted as interpersonal trust, an optimistic view of scientific progress, a low degree of regulation as well as good protection of intellectual property rights is favoring OSS activities. Our study thus contributes to the understanding of the role of cultural and nstitutional factors in general as well as in particular with respect to OSS. Additionally, it improves the understanding of the supply-side of OSS. |
| Keywords: | Open Source, Culture, Institutions, Social Capital, Trust, Regulation, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Individualism, Intellectual Property Rights |
| JEL: | B52 L17 L86 O34 Z13 Z19 |
| Date: | 2010–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-010&r=ipr |
| By: | Bravo-Ortega, Claudio; Lederman, Daniel |
| Abstract: | Numerous studies predict that developing countries with low human capital may not benefit from the strengthening of intellectual property rights. The authors extend an influential theoretical framework to highlight the role of intellectual property rights in the process of innovation and structural change. The resulting theory is consistent with a stylized fact that appears in the data, namely that countries with poor intellectual-property protection may accumulate human capital without a corresponding increase in research and development investment as a share of national income. The model predicts that without minimum intellectual-property protection, additional education may result in more imitation rather than innovation. The preponderance of the econometric evidence presented in this paper suggests that interactions between human capital and intellectual property rights determine global patterns of research and development effort, and intellectual property rights tend to raise the effect of education on the incidence of research and development. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,E-Business,Debt Markets,Labor Policies,Knowledge for Development |
| Date: | 2010–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5217&r=ipr |
| By: | Andreas Freytag (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Sebastian von Engelhardt (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Christoph Schulz (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena) |
| Abstract: | Open source software (OSS) is marked by free access to the software and its source code. OSS is developed by a 'community' consisting of thousands of contributors from all over the world. Some research was undertaken in order to analyze how global the OSS community actually is, i.e. analyze the geographic origin of OSS developers. But as members of the OSS community differ in their activity levels, information about the allocation of activities are of importance. Our paper contributes to this as we analyze not only the geographic origin of (active) developers but also the geographic allocation of OSS activities. The paper is based on data from the SourceForge research Data Archive, referring to 2006. We exploit information about the developers' IP address, email address and indicated time-zone. This enables us to properly assign 1.3 million OSS developers from SourceForge to their countries, that are 94% of all registered ones in 2006. In addition we have information about the number of posted messages which is a good proxy for activity of each developer. Thus we can provide a detailed picture of the world-wide allocation of open source activities. Such country data about the supply-side of OSS is a valuable stock for both, cross-country studies on OSS, as well as country-specific research and policy advice. |
| Keywords: | Open Source Software, Geographical Location, Open Source Activities |
| JEL: | L17 C81 L86 |
| Date: | 2010–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-009&r=ipr |