The conventional wisdom is that the formation of patent pools is welfare enhancing when patents are complementary, since the pool avoids a double-marginalization problem associated with independent licensing. This conventional wisdom relies on the effects that pooling has on downstream prices....

The conventional wisdom is that the formation of patent pools is welfare enhancing when patents are complementary, since the pool avoids a double-marginalization problem associated with independent licensing. This conventional wisdom relies on the effects that pooling has on downstream prices....

The paper revisits the analogy between real and intellectual property in the context of patents to draw out some basic differences and points to how these relate to the current debate concerning patent policy reform

The role of patent law and patent practice especially in biotech has gained considerable attention of late as there are concerns that innovative efforts are stifled rather than fostered by intellectual property in the area. In this essay we survey some of the difficulties encountered in biotech...