Recent empirical studies suggest a need for a flexible patent regime responding to industry characteristics. In … practice, sector-specific modifications of patent strength already exist but lack theoretical foundation. This paper intends to … make up for this neglect by scrutinizing in what direction industry characteristics influence optimal patent strength. It …

-stage model in which choosing between patent and trade secrecy is affected by three parameters: the patent strength defined as the … 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 …

The doctrine of patent exhaustion implies that the authorized sale of patented goods “exhausts” the patent rights in …, in which the patent owner forfeits all rights upon an authorized sale, and presumptive exhaustion, in which the patent … owner may opt-out of exhaustion via contract. This paper offers the first economic model of domestic patent exhaustion that …

This paper develops a model of patent trolls to understand various litigation strategies employed by nonpracticing …