-stage model in which choosing between patent and trade secrecy is affected by three parameters : the patent strength defined as … whereas small innovations are always patented. Furthermore, medium innovations are patented only when patent strength is … sufficiently high. Finally, we investigate a class of licensing agreements used to settle patent disputes between patent holders …

inventors in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. We analyse patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to thousands of …

particular industry - standards generate potential for market power far beyond the legal protection conferred by patents. Patent … that have fueled antitrust debates and economic research during the last decade. On the one hand, patent owners may be … a patent pool may actually be pro-competitive. After a brief introduction, we explain in the first part why, and on what …

licenses and the creation of patent commons, are a testiment to a genuinely creative use of IP law by the open source community …

model in which manufacturers must buy licenses from different patent owners in order to enter the market for differentiated …

the main strategic implications of such a complex picture. We first survey the main patent functions : innovation … protection, functions related to trade and finance, defensive roles, and patent as an input in the innovation process. We then …