In enterprise software markets, firms are increasingly using services-based business models built on open-source software (OSS) to compete with established, proprietary software firms. Because thirdparty firms can also strategically contribute to OSS and compete in the services market, the...

We develop a multistage game in which firms do cumulative R&D to complete a lengthy process, and we study whether firms patent intermediate results or release them in Open Source. A patent holder obtains a larger reward in the market, but since in equilibrium it forecloses R&D it remains alone...

Around 300 B.C., a Greek mathematician — Euclid — discovered a theorem on which modern geometry and a fundamental algorithm is based. The Euclid’s theorem represents a method for calculating the greatest common divisors between two integers. Since 300 B.C., both Euclid’s Theorem and...

There is considerable debate regarding the use of intellectual property rights (IPR) to spur innovation in the software industry. In this paper we focus on the choice of intellectual property right regimes and industry growth. We begin by developing a growth optimal mixture of open source and...

This paper examines the implications of Open Source License (OSL) selection on software innovation, and suggests how modifying the Open Source Definition, or modifying certain provisions in OSLs that have become de-facto standard licenses in open source development, could better accommodate the...

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...

We study an endogenous growth model where a profit-motivated R and D sector coexists with the introduction of free blueprints invented by philanthropists. These goods are priced at marginal cost, contrary to proprietary ones which are produced by a monopoly owned by the inventor. We show that...

There is considerable debate regarding the use of intellectual property rights (IPR) to spur innovation in the software industry. In this paper we focus on the choice of intellectual property right regimes and industry growth. We begin by developing a growth optimal mixture of open source and...

I consider a Vickrey-Salop model of spatial product differentiation with quasi-linear utility functions and contrast two modes of production, the proprietary model where entrepreneurs sell software to the users, and the open source model where users participate in software development. I show...