The incentive thesis for patents is challenged by the existence of alternative means by which firms can capture returns on innovation. Taking into account patent alternatives yields a robust reformulation of the incentive thesis as mediated by organizational form. Patents enable innovators to...

We typically assume that intellectual property makes a substantial difference in regulating access to intellectual goods and thereby provides incentives for the production of intellectual goods. But the existence of alternative instruments by which to appropriate innovation returns suggests that...

It is generally assumed that stronger intellectual property protections have adverse competitive effects by raising entry costs and shielding incumbents. This book identifies a significant range of circumstances in which stronger IP protections lower entry costs for innovators who have robust...

Copyright is typically justified by the rationale that profits induce authors and other artists to invest resources in cultural production. This rationale is vulnerable to the objection that some artists have intrinsic incentives to invest in cultural production and do not require significant...

Policy approaches to the enforcement and licensing of standard-essential patents in wireless communications markets reflect the competing interests of entities that specialize in the innovation or implementation segments of the technology supply chain. This same principle can anticipate the...

In recent years the Supreme Court, Congress and the White House have taken actions designed to weaken patent rights. These actions track widely expressed views among legal and some economics scholars that cast doubt on the social value of robust intellectual property rights. These views rely on...

Conventional academic, policy, and judicial discussions of patent protection assume that patents solve a classic public goods or market underinvestment problem. This assumption states that, without patents, potential innovators would expect to have no or highly limited means of preventing...