One of the principles enshrined in all international patent treaties is that equal treatment should be provided to inventors regardless of their nationality. Little is known about whether this ‘national treatment’ principle is upheld in practice. We analyze whether patent examination...

The number of research grants awarded to biomedical researchers is found to have a positive effect on their subsequent number of publications and patents but either no effect or a negative effect on the subsequent number of commercial contracts signed. The exception was ‘development grants’...

In contrast with quotas and tariffs, it is theoretically ambiguous whether fewer (or ‘weaker’) rules over intellectual property rights will increase or decrease trade in patentable goods. The prevailing view is that anticipation of imitation reduces exporters’ incentive to export goods to...

This paper reports on the construction of a new database – called TM-Link – that contains 12 million trade mark applications and registrations across six jurisdictions – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. A new feature of the...

Conditional on the decision to enter the market for immature technology, we test for the effects that trust—proxied by the context in which the negotiating parties first met—has on the likelihood that these negotiations are successful. Using survey responses from 860 university–firm and...

China is both the world's largest producer and consumer of wheat. In an attempt to gain a larger slice of the important Chinese market, both the European Community and the United States have offered China subsidised wheat. In addition, other exporters have offered attractive credit arrangements...