This note expounds the abstract fundamentals of the appropriability problem, re-assessing insights from three classic contributions those of Schumpeter, Arrow and Teece. Whereas the first two contributions were explicitly concerned with the implications of appropriability for society at large,...

In the context of the WTO, intellectual property rights (IPR) are codified in the TRIPS-agreement. While covering all the different types of IPR, landmark cases of the still young history of TRIPS have dealt with commercial copyrights. This paper summarizes the basic economics of the IPR branch...

As regards the performance required for the development of the knowledge-based society, we view industrial property as an important level in this context. Therefore, in this paper we present (on a comparative basis) the system of industrial property rights and their protection in the European...