Patent Licensing in a Model of Spatial Price Discrimination

This paper demonstrates that it can be optimal for innovators that also produce to license via a fixed fee rather than a royalty in a model of spatial price discrimination. This reversal of the typical result emerges when reduced willingness to pay by consumers limits the competitive location advantage associated with differential production costs. Thus, in our duopoly model the innovator can earn more via the fixed fee than either no licensing or licensing by royalty, even though this requires accepting symmetric locations and the associated equality in production costs