We investigate the conditions for the desirability of exclusive intellectual property rights for innovators, as opposed to weak rights allowing for some degree of imitation and ex-post competition. The comparison between the two alternatives reduces to a specific "ratio test," which suggests...

Two distinct theories of patents - the reward theory and the contract theory - are customarily adopted by the courts to justify the patent system. The reward theory maintains that the function of the patent system is to remunerate successful innovators so as to encourage R&D effort. In contrast,...

What is the optimal allocation of prizes in an innovation race? Should the winner take all, or is it preferable that the original inventor shares the market with subsequent independent duplicators? Some recent papers in law and economics have argued that the latter, more permissive solution is...

We analyze optimal patent design when innovators can rely on secrecy to protect their innovations. Secrecy provides a temporary monopoly, which terminates when the secret leaks out or the innovation is duplicated. We find conditions under which the optimal policy is to induce the first innovator...