This paper provides novel empirical evidence on the private value of patents and R&D in European firms during the period 1991-2004. We explore the relationship between firm's stock market value, patents, and "quality"-weighted patents issued by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the US Patent...

This paper analyses the propensity to withdraw European patent applications within a regional sample of Italian applicants. The procedure for obtaining a granted patent from the EPO is composed of a series of sequential and selective steps imposing additional costs to the applicants....

In a generalized quality-ladder growth model, this paper firstly derives the optimal patent breadth and the socially optimal profit-sharing arrangement between patentholders. In this general-equilibrium setting, it identifies and derives a dynamic distortion of markup pricing on capital...

Is the patent length an effective policy instrument in stimulating R&D? This paper develops a generalized variety-expanding growth model and then calibrates the model to the aggregate data of the US economy to analyze the effects of extending the patent length. The numerical exercise suggests...

We show that when the researcher’s (observable but not contractible) contribution <p> to innovation is crucial, a covenant not to compete (CNC) reduces e.ort and profits <p> under both spot and relational contracts. Having no CNC allows the researcher to <p> leave for a rival. This alleviates a...</p></p></p>

This paper tries to find how firms use IPRs in the form of patents to protect innovation capital and find determinants of their effectiveness. The research is based on a large sample of 2960 Polish manufacturing firms that were engaged in developing and/or implementing a product or process...

Firms and governments spend billions of dollars on R&D every year. To increase social welfare, the results of R&D must be commercialized so that consumers can benefit from improved products and lower prices. One measure of R&D output is patents; however, most patent databases contain no...

This paper examines the underlying mechanisms of knowledge diffusion and interrelationships between formal and informal channels attending to the localisation of spillovers between university and industry. With this aim we present a historical in-depth case study centred in one of the most...

Patents are monopolies granted to inventors in order to promote innovation, but they have a limited term because they also impose social costs. There is little empirical research on what constitutes an optimal patent term, or whether patent term should vary across industry categories. We take a...

This paper examines the role of IPRs protection on stimulating innovations across countries. To consider the possible difference in the relationship between IPRs and innovations for countries of various development degrees, we employ the technique of panel threshold model to proceed with...