It is widely agreed that one of the main economic roles of IP law is to create exclusive rights: exclusivity allows innovators to appropriate the returns from their invention and it is the prospect of such returns that gives them the incentives to engage in innovative activities in the first place. It is important to stress […]
Tag Archives | markets
Is R&D cooperation a steppingstone to collusion?
By 3 November 2013 40
In 2010, the European Commission has revised its rules for the assessment of co-operation agreements between competitors. Some of these so-called “horizontal agreements” have the potential to reduce competition (and thus harm consumers); it is certainly so when the agreements involve price fixing or limiting production; such agreements are clearly prohibited. On the other hand, […]
A typology of IP intermediaries
By 26 March 2013 15
(Updated in November 2014) As we have already argued a couple of times on this blog (see here and here), markets for patents are typically difficult to organize. There are three main reasons as to why markets for patents work badly: Many uncertainties surround the value of patents. This is mainly because patents are idiosyncratic (and […]
Markets for technology: big hopes and … big difficulties
By 27 October 2010 31
(Original publication: October 2010; updated in November 2012) It is widely agreed that one of the main economic roles of IP law is to create exclusive rights: exclusivity allows innovators to appropriate the returns from their invention and it is the prospect of such returns that gives them the incentives to engage in […]