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on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Gaétan de Rassenfosse (Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne); Ling Zhou (Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne); |
| Abstract: | A patent system is a central tool in innovation policy. The prospect of monopolistic pricing supposedly encourages firms to innovate. However, there is scant empirical evidence supporting the existence of higher markups for patent-protected products. Using an original dataset that links consumer products to the patents that protect them, we study the impact of patent protection on product prices. Exploiting exogenous variations in patent status, we find that a loss of patent protection leads to an 8–10 percent drop in product prices. The price drop is larger for more important patents and is more pronounced in more competitive product markets. |
| Keywords: | innovation; markup; patent system; product; R&D incentive |
| JEL: | O31 O34 L11 D42 K11 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iip:wpaper:29 |
| By: | Atsuki KOTANI; Kentaro NAKAJIMA; Tetsuji OKAZAKI; Yukiko SAITO |
| Abstract: | Innovations in military technology potentially drive significant societal transformations through applications to civilian use. This study aims to quantitatively measure the impact of military technology development on civilian innovation activities using prewar and wartime Japanese patent data from 1916 to 1945. By exploiting Japan's secret patent system, which classified particularly critical military-related technologies not disclosed to the public, we identify important technological developments. The result shows that the filing of secret patents led to a significant increase in the number of patents within the corresponding technological classifications. Furthermore, this effect is not limited to organizations that registered secret patents; a significant impact is also observed among organizations that did not register secret patents. This suggests that the development of militarily important technologies generates a substantial spillover effect on other organizations. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:25093 |
| By: | Kazuyuki MOTOHASHI; Naotoshi TSUKADA; Kenta IKEUCHI |
| Abstract: | Corporate scientists that are involved in scientific activities, often leading to research paper publications, are important for corporate innovation, since science-based innovation tends to be transformative, spanning the boundaries of existing R&D pipelines. Such scientists can also play a role as a bridge between academic researchers, injecting scientific knowledge from outside the firm. However, the publication of internal corporate scientific activities could benefit competitor firms, providing them with input towards their own transformative innovation. In this study, we analyze this trade-off using a linked dataset of research papers and patents (disambiguated by paper author and patent inventor information and patent citation in research papers) of Japanese firms. Specifically, we analyzed two aspects, (1) contribution of corporate scientist research papers to in-house innovation (patent) and (2) capacity of corporate scientists to absorb scientific findings from outside their firms to obtain high quality patents. Our findings indicate that corporate scientists contribute to both aspects of innovation in their firms. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:25089 |
| By: | Peter S. Epinger (University of Oldenburg); Bohdan Kukharskyy (City University of New York); Alireza Naghavi (University of Bologna, Kyoto University); Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | We propose the idea that firms slice up global production processes to protect their know-how. By sourcing fewer inputs from a given supplier, firms avoid the concentration of information in the hands of any individual supplier and thereby reduce the risk of imitation. We study this phenomenon using global and highly granular data on firm-to-firm trade in automotive components. The data reveal a U-shaped relationship between the number of components per supplier (concentration) and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. This U-shape can be rationalized by a combination of a protective effect and a compositional effect of IPR protection: In countries with very weak IPR protection, firms source only low-tech components, for which imitation is not an issue and concentration is optimal to save fragmentation costs. Improvements in IPR protection induce firms to source more high-tech components, which are susceptible to imitation, so firms ‘slice to protect’ production at intermediate levels of IPR protection. Further improvements in IPR institutions mitigate the imitation risk and increase concentration. |
| Keywords: | Intellectual property rights, global value chains, production, imitation, automotive industry, fragmentation, multinational firms |
| JEL: | F L |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inf:wpaper:2025.16 |
| By: | Françoise Simon (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar, CREGO - Centre de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UB - Université de Bourgogne - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] - UFC - Université de Franche-Comté - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE]); Marine Cambefort (Humanis - Hommes et management en société / Humans and management in society - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg, EM Strasbourg - École de Management de Strasbourg = EM Strasbourg Business School - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg) |
| Abstract: | As part of their institutional work, brands mobilize their social standing to signal their value, societal appropriateness, and power to consumers. Drawing on the microfoundations of social judgment, this study describes celebrities and influencers as two distinct categories of brand endorsers in terms of legitimacy, reputation, and status and explores how these consumer judgments affect brand social standing. A mixed-methods approach is used to investigate the structure of endorsers' social judgments, based on a qualitative study and lexicometric analysis of a 726-consumer panel. The results show that social judgments exhibit contrasting poles of meaning depending on the endorser category. Celebrity endorsers are brand-centered with abstract and symbolic legitimacy, whereas influencer endorsers exhibit concrete and product-centered legitimacy. In terms of reputation and status, celebrity endorsers are perceived as having a positive reputation and high status, while influencers are judged as more nuanced, with reality TV influencers potentially damaging brand image because of reputational stigma. This study extends the literature on advertising endorsement by offering insights into the endorser legitimacy construct as a form of brand-endorser congruency, whose strength and construal level depend on the endorser category. It provides new findings on the social comparison processes involved in brand endorsement and the contamination of negative biases. At the level of brand management, the study clarifies the nature of the complementarity of the two endorser categories and the tensions that their coexistence can engender. From a managerial perspective, the study delineates multi-endorsement brand strategies and the risks associated with influencer partnerships |
| Keywords: | Endorsement Celebrity Influencer Reputation Status Legitimacy, Legitimacy, Status, Reputation, Influencer, Celebrity, Endorsement |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05235153 |