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on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | René Carraz |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the influence that academic patenting has on faculty members belonging to a research intensive Japanese uni- versity. We intend to contribute to the literature on both the use of patenting in academia and the influence it has on a researcher’s agenda setting. First, we document how recent policy changes have favored an increasing use of patents by faculty members in Japan. Then, us- ing two complementary set of data, cross-section and panel data, we focus our attention on three main dimensions: the effect of patenting on academic productivity measured in terms of publications and their quality; the role of financial factors; and the influence of peer effects. Our main findings are the following. First, we find that patenting and publishing were complementary activities in our two empirical settings. Moreover, we find that the output of colleagues working in the same department influences a researcher propensity to patent. The results show as well that the amount of contractual research funds received by a researcher is positively correlated with his/her number of patents, while the number of research grants - not the amount - is correlated to his/her patenting output. Finally, another interesting result concerns the influence of a researcher’s age on his/her propensity to patent. |
| Keywords: | Academic patenting, peer effects, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, university-industry relationships, Japanese innovation system. |
| JEL: | O3 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2013-12&r=ipr |
| By: | Eric Budish; Benjamin N. Roin; Heidi Williams |
| Abstract: | Patents award innovators a fixed period of market exclusivity, e.g., 20 years in the United States. Yet, since in many industries firms file patents at the time of discovery (“invention”) rather than first sale (“commercialization”), effective patent terms vary: inventions that commercialize at the time of invention receive a full patent term, whereas inventions that have a long time lag between invention and commercialization receive substantially reduced - or in extreme cases, zero - effective patent terms. We present a simple model formalizing how this variation may distort research and development (R&D). We then explore this distortion empirically in the context of cancer R&D, where clinical trials are shorter - and hence, effective patent terms longer - for drugs targeting late-stage cancer patients, relative to drugs targeting early-stage cancer patients or cancer prevention. Using a newly constructed data set on cancer clinical trial investments, we provide several sources of evidence consistent with fixed patent terms distorting cancer R&D. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the number of life-years at stake is large. We discuss three specific policy levers that could eliminate this distortion - patent design, targeted R&D subsidies, and surrogate (non-mortality) clinical trial endpoints - and provide empirical evidence that surrogate endpoints can be effective in practice. |
| JEL: | I10 O30 O34 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19430&r=ipr |
| By: | Wen Wen; Marco Ceccagnoli; Chris Forman |
| Abstract: | We examine whether the introduction of a patent commons, a special type of royalty free patent pool available to the open source software (OSS) community influences new OSS product entry by start-up software firms. In particular, we analyze the impact of The Commons—established by the Open Source Development Labs and IBM in 2005. We find that increases in the size of The Commons related to a software market increase the rate of entry in the market by start-ups using a new product based on an OSS license. The marginal impact of The Commons on OSS entry is increasing in the cumulativeness of innovation in the market and the extent to which patent ownership in the market is concentrated. |
| JEL: | L86 O34 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19394&r=ipr |
| By: | Friedrich Dornbusch (Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Competence Center Policy and Regions); Sidonia von Proff (Economic geography and Location Research, Philipps-Universität Marburg); Thomas Brenner (Economic geography and Location Research, Philipps-Universität Marburg) |
| Abstract: | Collaboration over distance is difficult to maintain in innovation projects which require a great deal of regional collaboration. However, patent documents reveal that a number of inventor teams are able to overcome long distances. Earlier literature started to investigate factors, which increase the probability of long-distance innovation co-operation. The paper at hand is restricted to patents with academic participation, but takes a close look at two types of factors in the environment of the inventors: (1) the characteristics of the university that employs the academic inventor(s), and (2) the influence of the regional environment. Research on the impact of these factors is still underdeveloped in the literature. By considering only patents with at least one academic inventor we have a relatively homogeneous subset of patents and can concentrate on the external impacts. We find that a similar research area structure, a high absorptive capacity as well as a high start-up rate foster intra-regional collaboration. More TTO staff and a larger university lead to more long-distance collaboration while the industry orientation of the university does not exert an influence on the distance between inventors. |
| Keywords: | patents, research collaboration, academic patents, collaboration over distance, Germany |
| JEL: | O31 R12 L14 |
| Date: | 2013–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pum:wpaper:2013-11&r=ipr |