In this paper, we consider products that are composed of distinct components that can be shared with rival firms through licensing agreements. In contrast to the standard licensing settings in which firms make binary choices (whether to license or not), the innovator decides on the set of...

We study the incentives of a product innovator to license its product partially to a potential entrant. In a duopolistic setting we consider product design of a modular nature, which enables the incumbent to license some modules of its innovation. Competition is characterized by the size of the...

In this paper, we consider products that are composed of distinct components that can be shared with rival firms through licensing agreements. In contrast to the standard licensing settings in which firms make binary choices (whether to license or not), the innovator decides on the set of...

Concerns have been expressed that gene patents might result in restricted access to research and health care. The exponential growth of patents claiming human DNA sequences might result in patent thickets, royalty stacking and, ultimately, a ‘tragedy of the anti-commons’ in genetics. The...

The extension of patent protection to biological material is by no means a recent phenomenon in Belgium. In 1836 the Belgian Patent Office granted the first patent for a micro-organism, viz. a yeast for the production of beer. A century later, in 1949, the Office delivered the first patent for a...

Patents in the life sciences sector have sparked considerable debate over the past years. The grant of a series of patents for the screening of breast cancer (BRCA) genes led to wide controversy in Europe, the US and Australia. The grant of patents for plants resulting from essentially...