intellectual property

The author explains that the consequence of the patent law agreement is that the economic interests of both private enterprises and developed nations may deprive developing countries of immediate access to modern technology, including pharmaceuticals. This can have a significant adverse effect on the health and well being of citizens of such countries.

According to the author, business enterprises have always relied on intellectual property to further economic goals. Trade secret law is utilized both as an alternative to patent protection and to protect commercial information that is outside the scope of patent protection.

The paper argues the ethical, environmental, and social issues that have moved to the forefront of the debate further exacerbate the complexities of intellectual property and ownership. The author uses the Saskatoon-based a biotech cluster as an example.

The authors of the report argue that the patent rule is inferior in any industry where the cost of independently inventing a product is not too much less than the inventors cost. They contend that the threat of independent invention creates a mechanism that limits patent holders profits to levels commensurate with their costs of research and development.

The paper presents a model of sequential innovation in which industry structure is endogenous and a standard of patentability determines the proportion of all inventions that qualify for protection. The model suggests a number of important implications for patent policy.

The paper examines the rationale for intellectual property protection in the development of new pharmaceutical products. The study considers why this is based on an analysis of the economic characteristics of research and development costs and returns in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The final section examines recent policy developments and issues surrounding patent lifetime and generic competition in this industry.

The report considers the role of intellectual property rights in the development of an access to new pharmaceuticals. A number of studies have found patents are significantly more important to pharmaceutical firms in appropriating the benefits from innovation compared to other high-tech industries. The final section of the paper focuses on the need for an orphan drug type program to stimulate more research and development on diseases specific to third world countries.

The paper reviews the literature on the economics of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights refer to the legal protection accorded to certain inventions or creations of the mind, and certain features of intellectual property rights are of particular interest to economists.

The authors examine the problem faced by a company that wishes to purchase patents in the hands of two different patent owners.

The paper utilizes a cross-country panel data on research and development investment, patent protection and other country-specific characteristics spanning the period 1981-1990. The evidence unambiguously indicates the significance of intellectual property rights as incentives for spurring innovation.