Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/73441 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
BGPE Discussion Paper No. 117
Publisher: 
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE), Nürnberg
Abstract: 
Traditionally patents are seen as the gold standard for intellectual property protection. But, in line with empirical findings that secrecy is considered more important for appropriating returns, recent theories predict that firms keep their most important inventions secret. This article reconciles both opposing views in a unifying framework, accounting for the main aspects causing the discrepancy: imperfect protection, patenting costs, and simultaneous innovations. Theoretical results on the relation between patenting and innovation size are then confronted with survey data for small European firms. Using a binary size measure, we find strong support for the traditional view that firms patent their most important innovations, but a continuous size measure reveals an inverted-U relation between patenting and size, as predicted by the unifying framework.
Subjects: 
Filing fees
imitation
innovation
probabilistic patent rights
R&D
simultaneous innovation
trade secrets
JEL: 
D22
D23
K11
L16
O34
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
883.65 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.