intellectual property

This paper analyses the impact of the PCT data on the European Patent Office (EPO) patent statistics, and explores methods to improve the timeliness of the EPO indicators by estimating the number of PCT applications which enter the EPO regional phase.

This report summarises two policy dialogues that the OECD organised with China in Spring 2004 on IPR issues. These dialogues aimed at assisting China in its efforts to further improve IPR.

This paper examines how technology transfer within U.S. multinational firms changes in response to a series of IPR reforms undertaken by 16 countries over the 1982-1999 period. Analysis of detailed firm-level data reveals that royalty payments for technology transferred to affiliates increase at the time of reforms, as do affiliate R&D expenditures and total levels of foreign patent applications.

The growth effects of intellectual property right (IPR) protection are examined in a quality-ladder model of endogenous growth. Stronger IPR protection, which reduces the probability of imitation, raises the reward for innovation. However, stronger protection reduces the number of competitive sectors, in which it is easier to innovate than in monopolistic sectors, thus concentrating researchers into fewer competitive sectors.

This paper examines how technology transfer within U.S. multinational firms changes in response to a series of IPR reforms undertaken by 16 countries over the 1982-1999 period. Results collectively imply that U.S. multinationals respond to changes in IPR regimes abroad by significantly increasing technology transfer to reforming countries.

This paper examines the use of economic incentives for knowledge generation through biodiscovery, in the particular case of the use of a highly valuable biogenetic resource stock from the South for industrial/research input. The focus is on a dynamic approach to contracting and property rights building upon insights from institutional and ecological economics.

A central issue in this debate is how intellectual property rights over a given piece of knowledge affects the propensity of future researchers to build upon that knowledge in their own scientific research activities. This article frames this debate around the concept of dual knowledge, in which a single discovery may contribute to both scientific research and useful commercial applications.

This paper examines an ex-post rationale for the patenting of scientific discoveries. In this model, scientists do not know which firms can make use of their discoveries, and firms do not know which scientific discoveries might be useful to them.

This Policy Brief addresses how government officials can cooperate to foster innovation without stifling competition, as well as some ways in which licensing behaviour that can fall foul of the competition laws.

This paper uses patent citation data to study flows of knowledge across time and across institutions in the field of energy research. The author finds evidence for diminishing returns to research inputs, both across time and within a given year.