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on Intellectual Property Rights |
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Issue of 2014‒11‒17
seven papers chosen by Giovanni Ramello Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro” |
| By: | Iain Cockburn; Jean O. Lanjouw; Mark Schankerman |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how patent rights and price regulation affect how fast new drugs are launched in different countries, using newly constructed data on launches of 642 new drugs in 76 countries for the period 1983-2002, and information on the duration and content of patent and price control regimes. Price regulation strongly delays launch, while longer and more extensive patent protection accelerates it. Health policy institutions, and economic and demographic factors that make markets more profitable, also speed up diffusion. The effects are robust to using instruments to control for endogeneity of policy regimes. The results point to an important role for patents and other policy choices in driving the diffusion of new innovations. This project was initiated by Jean (Jenny) Lanjouw. Tragically, Jenny died in late 2005, but had asked us to complete the project. This took much longer than expected because it involved complete reconstruction of the data set and empirical work. It is essentially a new paper in its current form, but it remains an important part of Jenny's legacy and a topic to which she devoted much of her intellectual and policy efforts. We hope she would be satisfied with our work which, for us, was a labor of love. |
| Keywords: | Patents, pharmaceuticals, diffusion, drug launches, price regulation |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O34 O38 I15 I18 K19 L65 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1298&r=ipr |
| By: | Agiakloglou, Christos; Drivas, Kyriakos; Karamanis, Dimitris |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the commercialization propensities of individual inventors' patents. Exploiting a peculiarity of the US patent system, concerning patent renewal fees in order to obtain small or large entity status, we are able to distinguish patents that become part of a large corporation's patent portfolio. Using an extensive dataset of US patents, both for domestic and foreign individual inventors, we find that patent characteristics, size of research teams, prior experience and past corporate patenting activity are positively associated with increased likelihood of transferring patent rights to large corporations. |
| Keywords: | individual inventor, patents, market transactions, patent renewals, large entity status |
| JEL: | O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2014–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58838&r=ipr |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice A; Andrés, Antonio R. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine global trajectories, dynamics, and tendencies of software piracy to ease the benchmarking of current efforts towards harmonizing the standards and enforcements of Intellectual Property Rights (henceforth IPRs) protection worldwide. Our empirical exercise is based on 15 different panel regressions, which together consists of 99 countries. The richness of the dataset allows us to disaggregate countries into fundamental characteristics of business software piracy based on income-levels (high-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income and low-income), legal-origins (English common-law, French civil-law, German civil-law and, Scandinavian civil-law) and, regional proximity (South Asia, Europe & Central Asia, East Asia & the Pacific, Middle East & North Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean and, Sub-Saharan Africa). Our main finding suggest that, a genuine timeframe for standardizing IPRs laws in the fight against software piracy is most feasible within a horizon of 4.3 to 10.4 years. In other words, full (100%) convergence within the specified timeframe will mean the enforcements of IPRs regimes without distinction of nationality or locality within identified fundamental characteristics of software piracy. The absence of convergence (in absolute and conditional terms) for the World panel indicates that, blanket policies may not be effective unless they are contingent on the prevailing trajectories, dynamics and tendencies of software piracy. Policy implications and caveats are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | Piracy; Business Software; Software piracy; Intellectual Property Rights; Panel data; Convergence |
| JEL: | F42 K42 O34 O38 O57 |
| Date: | 2014–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58755&r=ipr |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice A |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how Africa’s share in the contribution to global scientific knowledge can be boosted with existing Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) mechanisms. The findings which broadly indicate that tight IPRs are correlated with knowledge contribution can be summarized in two main points. First, the enshrinement of IPRs laws in a country’s Constitution is a good condition for knowledge economy. Secondly, while Main IP laws, WIPO treaties and Bilateral treaties are positively correlated with scientific publications, the IPRs law channel have a negative correlation. Whereas the study remains expositional, it does however offer interesting insights into the need for IPRs in the promotion of knowledge contribution within sampled countries of the continent. Other policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Publications; Intellectual property rights; Governance; Africa |
| JEL: | A20 F42 O34 O38 O55 |
| Date: | 2014–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58754&r=ipr |
| By: | Yael V. Hochberg; Carlos J. Serrano; Rosemarie H. Ziedonis |
| Abstract: | The use of debt to finance risky entrepreneurial-firm projects is rife with informational and contracting problems. Nonetheless, we document widespread lending to startups in three innovation-intensive sectors and in early stages of development. At odds with claims that the secondary patent market is too illiquid to shape debt financing, we find that intensified patent trading increases the annual rate of startup lending, particularly for startups with more redeployable (less firm-specific) patent assets. Exploiting differences in venture capital (VC) fundraising cycles and a negative capital-supply shock in early 2000, we also find that the credibility of VC commitments to refinance and grow fledgling companies is vital for such lending. Our study illuminates friction-reducing mechanisms in the market for venture lending, a surprisingly active but opaque arena for innovation financing, and tests central tenets of contract theory. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurial finance, financial intermediation, market for patents, venture capital, venture lending |
| JEL: | L14 L26 G24 O16 O3 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:792&r=ipr |
| By: | Carl Benedikt Frey (James Martin Fellow, Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology, United Kingdom (UK).); Atif Ansar (Lecturer at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and an Associate Fellow of the Saïd Business School, UK.); Sacha Wunsch-Vincent (Economics and Statistics Division, WIPO) |
| Abstract: | Brands are ever more visible and central to the functioning of modern economies. Firms, institutions, government and non-governmental actors as part of civil society spend an everincreasing amount on the right branding of their organization, and/or their products. The demand for trademarks has thus grown substantially. Mirroring this trend, “Markets for brands” - as defined in this paper - play an important but underappreciated economic role in today’s global economy. Trademarks and brands are increasingly the object of commercial transactions; they can be purchased, franchised or licensed. The ability to use Market for Brands allows companies to diversify their business, to access competences, and to generate new revenues without substantial investments. In recent years, firms in emerging economies have been more active users of these markets by licensing or acquiring established global brands. Yet, despite their apparent importance, little is known about the size of these markets, and how relevant these are for firms in countries with different stages of development. This paper first defines and provides a taxonomy for different brand markets. Second, it analyzes the economic rationale of such markets. Finally, it provides evidence on their magnitude, also assessing their relative importance of the different brand-related transaction types in developed and emerging economies alike. |
| Keywords: | Brands, branding, trademarks, licensing, franchising, mergers and acquisitions, emerging economies, intellectual property |
| JEL: | F23 M3 O3 O34 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:21&r=ipr |
| By: | Knut Blind (Berlin University of Technology, Faculty of Economics and Management, and Chair of Innovation Economics, Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS Public Innovation, Berlin, Germany.); Tim Pohlmann (Berlin University of Technology, Faculty of Economics and Management, Berlin, Germany); Florian Ramel (Berlin University of Technology, Faculty of Economics and Management, Berlin, Germany); Sacha Wunsch-Vincent (Economics and Statistics Division, WIPO) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the state of innovation in the Egyptian information technology sector (IT) and the corresponding role of intellectual property (IP). The Egyptian ICT sector is an important contributor to economic growth and employment. Having established itself as a leading supplier of ICT back office operation and services for multinational enterprises, moving up the value ladder towards the production and exports of higher value-added software and ICT services is now the priority. In this context, this working paper seeks to identify the current and potential role of IP for the Egyptian ICT sector, and the links between IP and innovation and FDI. First, the study describes the key characteristics of the Egyptian ICT sector, including its innovative activities. Second, after a discussion of the role of IP in the ICT industry, it describes what the current use of IP is in Egypt’s ICT sector. Finally, it proposes IP-related policies which could contribute to promoting domestic innovation. It also formulates areas for future research which touch upon the interface of ICT services and business process outsourcing and the role of IP, and the hurdles that low- and middle-income economies face in successfully penetrating the global IT innovation networks. |
| Keywords: | Egypt, information technology, business process outsourcing, intellectual property, innovation |
| JEL: | F23 L86 L96 O14 O3 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:18&r=ipr |