This paper studies the regional differences of intellectual property rights (IPRs), revealing IPRs protection’s regional difference in China. By introducing “implementation effect” to adjust G-P Index, it can be realized that China’s IPRs protection have been steadily improved, and there has been obvious and steady differences in IPRs. Developed districts have higher protection level of IPRs th...

This article reviews intellectual property rights (IPRs), with some emphasis on the protection of agricultural and life sciences innovations. The main institutional features of IPRs are first discussed, along with a brief historical background and an articulation of the main rationale for the existence of such rights. This is followed by an overview of the principal economic issues related to I...

In this paper I consider implications of China’s recent and ongoing reforms in intellectual property rights (IPRs) as it attains membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). I discuss the consistency of China’s IPRs laws with WTO requirements and indicate outstanding issues. I then present basic economic theory of the need for IPRs, distinguishing among patents, trademarks, trade secrets, ...

This paper considers policy towards the exercise of market power by holders of intellectual property rights (IPRs). In particular, we ask whether intellectual property protection should extend to price discrimination. To answer this question, we present a very simple model of IPRs, designed to make clear the trade-offs that face government policy makers in designing IPRs. We find that there are...

This paper studies the spatial patterns and the determinants of intellectual property rights (IPRs). I ̄nd evidence of spatial correlation in the strength of IPRs provided by di®erent countries. This spatial association persists after controlling for domestic socio-political and economic variables that can a®ect the choice of IPRs and which could potentially be correlated in space. A possible e...

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have attracted increasing attention both in academic circles as well as in public policy debates over the past decades. This has gone hand-in-hand with their increasing use, particularly (but not only) patents, reforms in the national and international legal frameworks that have resulted in the strengthening of IPRs and the fast growth of sectors in which kno...

This paper investigates the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in shaping the GSM industry. This industry is an example of a high-tech industry in which standards play a large role. In the process of designing the GSM standard, a lot of attention has been given to IPRs, mainly to avoid a situation in which a single IPR holder could hamper or even totally block the development of the st...

Biological innovations in agriculture did not enjoy protection by formal intellectual property rights (IPRs) for a long time, but the recent trend has been one of considerable broadening and strengthening of these rights. We document the nature of these IPRs and their evolution, and provide an assessment of their impacts on innovation. We integrate elements of the institutional history of plant...

BACKGROUND There has been a substantial increase in the number of on-line health care grading sites that offer patient feedback on physicians, staff and hospitals. Despite a growing interest among some consumers of medical services, most studies of Internet physician rating sites (IPRS) have restricted their analysis to sampling data from individual sites alone. Our objective was to explore the...