How Do Patents Affect Research Investments?
Although patent systems have been widely used both historically and internationally, there is nonetheless a tremendous amount of controversy over whether patent systems, in practice, improve the alignment between private returns and social contributions. In this article, I describe three parameters—...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Article |
Published: |
Annual Reviews
2018
|
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114175 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4364-1505 |
Summary: | Although patent systems have been widely used both historically and internationally, there is nonetheless a tremendous amount of controversy over whether patent systems, in practice, improve the alignment between private returns and social contributions. In this article, I describe three parameters—how the disclosure function affects research investments, how patent strength affects research investments in new technologies, and how patents on existing technologies affect follow-on innovation—needed to inform the question of how patents affect research investments, and review the available evidence that has attempted to empirically estimate these parameters. |
---|