We show the impact of technology licensing on optimal patent policy. Strong patent protection that eliminates imitation may not be the equilibrium outcome in the presence of licensing. Depending on the cost of innovation, licensing may either increase or reduce the strength of the patent protection

The issue of optimal patent protection is of great importance since the inclusion of the trade related aspects of intellectual property rights accord into the purview of the World Trade Organization. Hitherto, the literature has focused on the optimal patent regimes from the perspective of...

Our analysis provides a rationale for the existence of a positive fixed-fee and output royalty in the licensing contracts. In this article, we show that the preference functions play an important role in this respect. As the market expansion effect gets weaker, it reduces the possibility of a...

Significant amount of vertical technology transfer occurs betweendeveloped and developing country firms, yet the literature on intellectual propertyrights did not pay much attention to this aspect...