A set of U.S.-based companies is investigated regarding the effectiveness of intellectual property protection mechanisms (IPPMs) in the formation of research partnerships. Patents are the most frequently used IPPM to protect both background and foreground knowledge in partnerships. Other IPPMs...

Intellectual property rights--copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, and related rights--have become increasingly important with the advent of increased international trade, global and knowledge-based economy and fast developing technology. A strong intellectual property rights regime...

Kulturpflanzen haben unter ressourcenökonomischen Gesichtspunkten ein enormes Potential, zum einen als Rohstofflieferant, aber auch als Biofabrik der Zukunft. Die Anwendung von Biotechnologie in der Pflanzenzüchtung (Crop Science) wird bereits als dritte technologische Revolution gepriesen,...

Im Mai dieses Jahres tagt in Bonn die 9. Vertragsstaatenkonferenz zum Übereinkommen über die biologische Vielfalt, kurz CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) genannt. Biologische Vielfalt beinhaltet nicht nur die in der Natur wild vorkommenden genetischen Ressourcen, sondern auch die...

This paper analyzes the setting of national patent policies in the global economy. In the standard model with free trade and social-welfare-maximizing governments à la Grossman and Lai (2004), cross-border positive policy externalities induce individual countries to select patent strengths that...

It is commonly believed that the business environment in developing countries does not allow productive technology-based entrepreneurship to flourish. In this paper, we draw on the experience of Indian software firms where entrepreneurial growth has belied these predictions. This paper argues...

Continued lobbying by high-end, American designers for intellectual property-type fashion design protection has culminated in the proposed Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act, intended to introduce EU standards. Using a sequential, 2-firm, vertical differentiation framework,...

For a decade, economists have been fascinated by the phenomenon of open source software (OSS). OSS is marked by free access to the software and its source code. It is developed in a public, collaborative manner by thousands of non-paid volunteers as well as profit seeking firms. Today, OSS is...

We study how firm-specific complementary assets and intellectual property rights affect the management of knowledge workers. The main results show when a firm will wish to sue workers that leave with innovative ideas, and the effects of complementary assets on wages and on worker initiative. We...