the licensing contracts on social welfare and optimal patent protection …

We show that the common wisdom suggesting higher investment in innovation under a stronger patent protection may not be … slope of the marginal cost of undertaking innovation is moderate, investment in innovation is maximised at a patent … innovation. We also show that welfare is maximised neither at the strongest patent protection nor at the weakest patent …

We show that if patent protection and trade secrecy generate asymmetricmarket structure, an innovator may prefer patent …