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on Intellectual Property Rights |
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Issue of 2014‒03‒15
six papers chosen by Giovanni Ramello Universita' del Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro |
| By: | Dirk Czarnitzki; Bronwyn H. Hall; Hanna Hottenrott |
| Abstract: | Information about the success of a new technology is usually held asymmetrically between the research and development (R&D)-performing firm and potential lenders and investors. This raises the cost of capital for financing R&D externally, resulting in financing constraints on R&D especially for firms with limited internal resources. Previous literature provided evidence for start-up firms on the role of patents as signals to investors, in particular to Venture Capitalists. This study adds to previous insights by studying the effects of firms’ patenting activity on the degree of financing constraints on R&D for a panel of established firms. The results show that patents do indeed attenuate financing constraints for small firms where information asymmetries may be particularly high and collateral value is low. Larger firms are not only less subject to financing constraints, but also do not seem to benefit from a patent quality signal. |
| JEL: | G32 O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19947&r=ipr |
| By: | Iciar Dominguez Lacasa; Alexander Giebler |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the technological activities of Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies and to compare them with the technological activities of other world regions. Using data from the EPO World Wide Statistical Database for the period 1980-2009 the analysis is based on counts of priority patent applications over time. In terms of priority patent applications, CEE reduced its technological activities drastically in absolute and per capita terms after 1990. The level of priority patent applications in this world region maintained more recently a stable level below the performance of EU15, South EU and the former USSR. In what concerns technological specialization, the results suggest a division of labor in technological activities among world regions where Europe, Latin America and the former USSR are mainly specializing in sectors losing technological dynamism in the global patent activities (Chemicals and/or Mechanical Engineering) while North America, the Middle East (especially Israel) and Asia Pacific are increasingly specializing in Electrical Engineering, a sector with strong technological opportunities. |
| Keywords: | CEE, patent indicators, priority counts, patstat, trends, specialization |
| JEL: | O30 O57 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwh:dispap:2-14&r=ipr |
| By: | Joseph Mai (Department of Economics, York University, Toronto, Canada); Andrey Stoyanov (York University) |
| Abstract: | Are judges concerned with the effect of their decisions on national welfare in the same way as policy-makers do? In this paper we analyze this question by examining the outcomes of intellectual property rights (IPR) litigations between domestic and foreign .rms. We develop a simple model of oligopoly where foreign .rms have access to more efficient production technology and show that weak protection of foreign-owned IPR always leads to welfare gains at home. We also show that the positive welfare e¤ect increases with the size of the foreign innovator, as well as in the size of the domestic imitator. We test predictions of the model using the data on all Canadian IPR cases over a four-year period. We find that domestic firms are substantially more likely, by 17 percentage points, to succeed in litigations with foreign firms than with other Canadian firms. We also find evidence supporting the hypothesis of the home bias in the legal system. Specifically, we establish that courts' decisions are aligned with welfare maximization principles so that foreign firms are less likely to win in those cases when the implied welfare gains from not protecting foreign IPR are greater. |
| Date: | 2014–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yca:wpaper:2014_3&r=ipr |
| By: | Petra Moser; Alessandra Voena; Fabian Waldinger |
| Abstract: | Historical accounts suggest that Jewish émigrés from Nazi Germany revolutionized U.S. science. To analyze the émigrés’ effects on chemical innovation in the U.S. we compare changes in patenting by U.S. inventors in research fields of émigrés with fields of other German chemists. Patenting by U.S. inventors increased by 31 percent in émigré fields. Regressions that instrument for émigré fields with pre-1933 fields of dismissed German chemists confirm a substantial increase in U.S. invention. Inventor-level data indicate that émigrés encouraged innovation by attracting new researchers to their fields, rather than by increasing the productivity of incumbent inventors. |
| JEL: | J61 N12 O3 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19962&r=ipr |
| By: | Garcia, Daniel |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a model of collusion in vertically differentiated industries where firms have the option to make their products distinguishable to consumers by attaching a brand. We show that if consumers’ preferences are linear in the quality dimension and their beliefs satisfy a standard refinement, collusion is facilitated in the absence of brands. More precisely, we show that if collusion is feasible with brands it is also feasible without them |
| Keywords: | Collusion; Branding; Vertical Differentiation |
| JEL: | D83 L13 L40 |
| Date: | 2014–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:54010&r=ipr |
| By: | Mohamed Akli Achabou |
| Abstract: | This research explores the relevance of the strategic choice of Nespresso to opt for an environmental self-declaration in a context of increasing scepticism of the consumers to ecolabells, particularly those established by companies. To reach this goal, an empirical study was driven with 134 French consumers. The results of a joint analysis show that the environmental label established by Nespresso is favorably perceived by the consumers and influences positively their preference with the same degree of importance as the Fairtrade independent certification. The consumers seem to rely on the brand and think that it would not take the risk of showing false information at the risk of damaging its reputation. Entreprises. Pour atteindre cet objectif une étude empirique a été conduite auprès de 134 consommateurs français. Les résultats d’une analyse conjointe montrent que l’affichage responsable établi par Nespresso est favorablement perçu par les consommateurs et influence positivement leur préférence avec un même degré d’importance que la certification indépendante Fairtrade. Les consommateurs semblent faire confiance à la marque et pensent qu’elle ne prendrait pas le risque d’afficher de fausses informations au risque de nuire à sa réputation. |
| Keywords: | eco-certification, brand, consumer preference, conjoint analysis method. |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-139&r=ipr |