Survey data from over 3,000 academic scientists show that nearly half of these scientists report that their choice of research projects has been affected (to some degree) by the presence of third‐party patents. Our evidence suggests that the operation of this patent‐induced effect is through...

The effectiveness of trade mark protection depends on the enforceability of rights. However, little is known about how trade mark owners actually go about enforcing their trade marks in the civil courts. The few studies which have emerged recently show a high success rate for trade mark owners....

High neo-natal mortality is one of the most salient 'facts' about firm performance in the industrial organization literature. We model firm survival and examine the relative influence of firm, industry and macroeconomic factors on survival for new vis-à-vis incumbent firms. In particular, we...

In this paper, the management of outgoing and incoming knowledge is modelled as part of the firm's profit-seeking strategy. Firms stem their outflow of commercially-sensitive knowledge through appropriation mechanisms such as patents and secrecy and stimulate inflows of commercially-valuable...

Since the amount of tangible matter in the world is fixed, the growth and deployment of intangible capital in the production process must be the sole source of productivity growth and thus our ability to enhance the (material) quality of life. This survey article takes stock of our knowledge...

In this paper, we identify three policy instruments governments have at their disposal to affect the power of patent rights to prevent imitation: the size of the inventive step used to make the patent granting decision, the rigour of the patent examination process and the predisposition of the...

Over the past quarter of a century, trade mark applications have grown by 2.3 per cent per annum faster than real GDP in Australia. This paper explores the factors associated with this growth. We find some evidence that over the past two decades, trademarking has been associated with more...

There is a common, largely anecdotally-based belief that registered intellectual property is a less efficient form of protection for SME inventors compared with inventors from large firms. This paper discusses the reasons why SMEs may be disadvantaged in their use of intellectual property as...

A challenge for applied studies of innovation is to find quality-adjusted and unbiased measures for the extent of innovative activity in firms. This paper considers, in the light of the uses for these measures, how well we expect these common firm-level indicators quantify innovative services...