This paper develops a three-stage model of innovation, fixed-fee licensing and production to evaluate the welfare effects of compulsory licensing, taking into account both static (information sharing) and dynamic (innovation incentive) effects. Compulsory licensing is shown to have an...

Once a new technology has been invented, there is a credible threat of imitation when patents are long and imitation cost is low. When imitation is credible, the innovator has an incentive to postpone technology adoption for relatively high cost of imitation. The possibility of licensing...