Patent scope is central to the sale of ideas, which can spur economic growth and provide significant gains from trade. Awarding an inventor a patent on a new idea partially solves a commitment problem that would otherwise prevent the inventor from selling the idea. (Arrow, 1962). In the absence...

Firms often struggle with the successful commercialization of innovations, and there is a need for reliable predictors. Prior research suggests that intellectual property (IP) rights play a key role in the commercialization of innovations. However, to what extent can IP rights be used to predict...

This book provides a framework for thinking about the law and cyberspace, examining the extent to which the Internet is currently under control and the extent to which it can or should be controlled. It focuses in part on the proliferation of MP3 file sharing, a practice made possible by the...

This article contributes to the literature on innovation and development by identifying the determinants of innovation, and the role of intellectual property rights, in industrialized and developing countries. Controlling for sample selection, I find that, in general, the level of intellectual...

This paper examines the impact of intellectual property rights (IPR) reforms on the technology flows between the U.S. and countries where U.S. multinationals have established affiliates. We use patent citations as a proxy for knowledge spillovers to examine whether the diffusion of new...

This paper investigates the impact of patent laws on firms’ global sourcing decisions. I develop a theoretical model of multinational firms’ location and production decisions in the presence of cross-country differences in intellectual property rights and cross-sector differences in the...

Even though most countries have agreed to a harmonization of intellectual property rights by signing the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), there is still much dispute about the optimal level of protection of intellectual property rights in the world....

This report presents relevant statistics that highlight the economic activity of the U.S. seed industry. The focus of this report is on the four main U.S. crops: corn, soybean, wheat, and cotton. The report contains three sections. The first is related to the U.S. seed market’s size based on...

Judge Bryson recently asserted in Association for Molecular Pathology v. US Patent and Trademark Office (dissenting-in-part) that human gene patents "present a significant obstacle to the next generation of innovation in genetic medicine — multiplex tests and whole-genome sequencing." His...