|
on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Ufuk Akcigit (University of Pennsylvania); Murat Alp Celik (University of Pennsylvania); Jeremy Greenwood (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | An endogenous growth model is developed where each period firms invest in researching and developing new ideas. An idea increases a firm's productivity. By how much depends on how central the idea is to a firm's activity. Ideas can be bought and sold on a market for patents. A firm can sell an idea that is not relevant to its business or buy one if it fails to innovate. The developed model is matched up with stylized facts about the market for patents in the U.S. The analysis attempts to gauge how efficiency in the patent market affects growth |
| Keywords: | Growth, Ideas, Innovation, Misallocation, Patents, Patent Agents, Research and Development, Search frictions |
| JEL: | O31 O41 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eag:rereps:21&r=ipr |
| By: | Valentina Bosetti (Department of Economics, Bocconi University, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change); Elena Verdolini (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection and Environmental Policies (EPs) on clean (renewable) and dirty (fossil-based) technology diffusion from top-innovators. IPR protection and EPs are extensively debated policy tools, as IPR protection addresses knowledge market failure, while EPs respond to pressing local and global environmental externalities. A model of monopolistic competition inspired by the recent trade literature shows that the profits associated with exporting a blueprint are a function of the quality of the idea and of market and institutional characteristics of the receiving country. We test the empirical implications of our model using patent data in renewable and fossil efficient power technologies for 13 top innovating countries and 40 patenting authorities. We improve on previous contributions by accounting for unobserved heterogeneity and for the endogeneity of policy proxies through a Generalized Method of Moment estimator. We show that knowledge transfer through patent duplication increases with the level of IPR protection, but with slight diminishing marginal returns. The effect is stronger for clean technologies, which are arguably less mature and more sensitive to uncertainty. Commitment to EPs also increases the incentives for patent duplication. The magnitude of the effect is conditional on the nature of the technology and on the specific policy instrument. |
| Keywords: | Technology Diffusion and Transfer, Innovation, Patents, Energy Technologies, Environmental Policy, Intellectual Property Rights |
| JEL: | O33 O34 Q55 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2013.43&r=ipr |
| By: | Francesca Lotti (Bank of Italy); Giovanni Marin (CERIS-CNR) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a brief methodological note on the matching of Italian firms in the AIDA database with applicants at the European Patent Office from the PATSTAT database. The need to match data on patent applications with balance-sheet information stems from the importance of patent statistics as a source of information on the innovative performance of firms. Starting from recent efforts to match applicants in PATSTAT with firms in the Bureau van Dijk databases (ORBIS, AMADEUS, FAME), we added an improved cleaning routine to maximize exact matches, followed by an approximate matching based on multiple combination of similarity scores. Starting with 272,475 firms, we matched 49,369 EPO applications in the period 1977-2009. The matching covers 68 percent of EPO applications by Italian firms for the entire period and 89 percent for 2000-2009. Finally, we describe the time, sector, size, geographical location and technology distribution of the matched applications. |
| Keywords: | names harmonization, patents, approximate matching, PATSTAT, AIDA |
| JEL: | C81 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_166_13&r=ipr |
| By: | Arghya Ghosh (School of Economics, the University of New South Wales); Jota Ishikawa (Faculty of Economics, Hitotsubashi University) |
| Abstract: | We examine how trade liberalization afects South’s incentive to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) in a North-South duopoly model where a low-cost North firm competes with a high-cost South firm in the South market. The extent of effective cost difference between North and South depends on South’s imitation, which in turn depends on South’s IPR protection and absorptive capacity and North firm’s location choice and masking effort, all of which are endogenously determined in our model. Even though innovation is exogenous to the model (and hence unffected by South’s IPR policy) we find that strengthening IPR protection in South can improve its welfare. The relationship between trade cost and the degree of IPR protection that maximizes South welfare is non-monotone. South does not have any incentive to protect IPR when trade costs are either zero or prohibitive, while for moderate values of trade cost, South government can strengthen IPR protection, induce FDI and increase South’s welfare. In an extension of the model, where North firm can mask its technology, we show that, even when trade costs are zero or prohibitive, strengthening IPR protection can improve South’s welfare by deterring the North firm from masking its technology. The relationships between location choice/masking decision and South’s investment in absorptive capacity are also explored. |
| Keywords: | intellectual property rights, absorptive capacity, FDI, oligopoly, imitation, masking |
| JEL: | F12 F13 D43 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2013-11&r=ipr |
| By: | Ernest Miguelez (World Intellectual Property Organization, Economics and Statistics Division, Geneva, Switzerland); Carsten Fink (World Intellectual Property Organization, Economics and Statistics Division, Geneva, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper has two objectives. First, it describes a new database mapping migratory patterns of inventors, extracted from information included in patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. We explain in detail the information contained in the database and discuss the usefulness and reliability of the underlying data. Second, the paper provides a descriptive overview of inventor migration patterns, based on the information contained in the newly constructed database. Among the largest receiving countries, we find that the United States exhibits by far the highest inventor immigration rate, followed by Australia and Canada. European countries lag behind in attracting inventive talent; in addition, France, Germany, and the UK see more inventors emigrating than immigrating. In relation to the number of home country inventors, Central American, Caribbean and African economies show the largest inventor brain drain. |
| Keywords: | brain drain, skilled international migration, inventors, PCT patents |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O3 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:8&r=ipr |
| By: | Michele Benvenuti (Banca d'Italia); Luca Casolaro (Banca d'Italia); Elena Gennari (Banca d'Italia) |
| Keywords: | innovation, R&D, patents |
| JEL: | O30 O57 L20 I25 D83 D A D D |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_168_13&r=ipr |
| By: | Bradley, Samantha R. (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics); Hayter, Christopher S. (New York Academy of Sciences); Link, Albert N. (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that a linear model of technology transfer is no longer sufficient, or perhaps even no longer relevant, to account for the nuances and complexities of the technology transfer process that characterizes the ongoing commercialization activities of universities. Shortcomings of the traditional linear model of technology transfer include inaccuracies—such as its strict linearity and oversimplification of the process, composition, a one-size-fits-all approach, and an overemphasis on patents—and inadequacies—such as failing to account for informal mechanisms of technology transfer, failing to acknowledge the impact of organizational culture, and failing to represent university reward systems within the model. As such, alternative views of technology transfer are presented here that better capture the progression of the university towards an entrepreneurial and dynamic institution, and that advance the body of knowledge about this important academic endeavor. |
| Keywords: | Technology transfer; Entrepreneurial university; Intellectual property; Patents; Innovation; Commercialization |
| JEL: | L26 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2013–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2013_010&r=ipr |
| By: | Dornbusch, Friedrich; Brenner, Thomas |
| Abstract: | -- |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisifr:r62013&r=ipr |
| By: | Francesca Checchinato (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Cinzia Colapinto (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Alice Giusto (Research Fellow Università Ca' Foscari Venice) |
| Abstract: | In the general framework of globalization and internationalization, the paper focuses on the advertising strategies adopted by top companies in the luxury sector. The article reports on the preliminary data of a study to determine the importance of local culture in advertising content by comparing Chinese and Italian ads. In particular, this research analyses the content of advertisements from Vogue, one of the most popular and influential fashion and beauty magazine, both in China and Italy: the focus is on three industries, namely clothing, cosmetics and jewellery. The selected ads of Ôproduct pairsÕ allow to shed a light on the choices in terms of communications messages and conveyed image by top brands in both countries. The content analysis points out visual and textual elements contributing to the standardization-adaptation discussion: this research reveals that strategies are both affected by the country and the product category. |
| Keywords: | brand communication; Cross cultural marketing; advertising strategies; China; Italy |
| JEL: | M31 M37 N30 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:41&r=ipr |
| By: | Belo, Frederico (University of MN); Lin, Xiaoji (OH State University); Vitorino, Maria Ana (University of MN) |
| Abstract: | We study the role of brand capital--a primary form of intangible capital--for firm valuation and risk in the cross section of publicly traded firms. Using a novel empirical measure of brand capital stock constructed from advertising expenditures accounting data, we show that: (i) firms with low brand capital investment rates have higher average stock returns than firms with high brand capital investment rates, a difference of 5.2% per annum; (ii) more brand capital intensive firms have higher average stock returns than less brand capital intensive firms, a difference of 5.1% per annum; and (iii) investment in both brand capital and physical capital is volatile and procyclical. A neoclassical investment-based model in which brand capital is a factor of production subject to adjustment costs matches the data well. The model also provides a novel explanation for the empirical links between advertising expenditures and stock returns around seasoned equity offerings (SEO) documented in previous studies. |
| JEL: | E32 G12 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:ohidic:2013-04&r=ipr |