The Bayh-Dole Act allows universities to commercialize their research. University laboratories therefore have two sources of funds: direct grants from the government and funds from commercialization. In addition to giving direct subsidies to university laboratories, the government also subsidizes the commercial sector, for example, through tax credits. Subsidies to commerce contribute indirectl...

This paper studies the determinants of patent suits and settlements during 1978-1999 by linking information from the U.S. patent office, the federal courts and industry sources. We find that litigation risk is much higher for patents owned by individuals and firms with small patent portfolios. Patentees with a large portfolio of patents to trade, or other characteristics that facilitate “cooper...

We draw on qualitative data derived from field work on two university campuses to develop an explanation for widely disparate rates of new invention disclosure. We argue that faculty decisions to disclose are shaped by their perceptions of the benefits of patent protection. These incentives to disclose are magnified or minimized by the perceived costs of interacting with technology transfer off...

a r t i c l e i n f o Available online xxxx JEL classifications: O33 O34 O41 Keywords: Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Economic growth North–south model In this paper, we develop a general equilibrium endogenous growth model that emphasizes the IPR enforcement effects on growth, in a scenario of north–south technological knowledge diffusion. The economy consists of three sectors, and firms a...

Abstract We analyze the extent to which private defensive litigation insurance deters patent assertion by non-practicing entities (NPEs). study effect that a patent-specific product, offered leading insurer, had on behavior of insured patents’ owners, all are NPEs. first model impact enforcers and accused infringers. show availability can have an how often will assert their patents. confirm thi...

We analyze the relationship between economic growth, knowledge production and intellectual property rights. Economists and historians underline different aspects as possible causes of knowledge accumulation; the former stress the role of incentive mechanisms while the latter the autonomous progress of science. We construct a unified theory allowing for the presence of markets and the autonomous...

We study optimal contracting in a setting that combines experimentation and adverse selection. In our leading example, an entrepreneur (agent) is better informed than the investor (principal) about both the quality the project (risky arm’s distribution) and the entrepreneur’s outside option (payoff of the safe arm). The investor’s profit-maximizing mechanism can be uniquely implemented with a m...

During the late 1990s the market value of U.S. businesses grew at 15% per year. It is hard to reconcile such fast growth with observed rates of investment in physical capital and R&D. We therefore propose a model in which new ideas are privately owned but discovering them does not require resources. In our model it is possible that market value rises very rapidly without drastic changes in fact...