An Introduction to the Law and Economics of Intellectual Property

Abstract

Although economists have written on topics of intellectual property for a long time, the impact of economics on public policy in this area has been slight, especially as compared to the influence of professional writings in areas such as antitrust and taxation. We believe that too few of the profession's resources have been devoted to these issues and that, of those resources that have been employed, too few have been devoted to empirical analyses. We hope that this introductory essay and the three papers that follow will stimulate interest in this subject. This introductory essay first describes some of the basic economic tradeoffs involved in intellectual property law, and then describes the framework of the law in the six areas described above: patent, copyright, semiconductor protection, trademark, trade secret, and misappropriation. It is intended both to provide thumbnail descriptions of the various intellectual property regimes to economists working in this area and to indicate where additional economic research might be useful.

Fighting Software Piracy: Which Governance Tools Matter in Africa?

“…2 For an excellent introduction to the economics of intellectual property rights (see Besen and Raskind 1991).…”

From Thought to Practice: Appropriation and Endogenous Market Structure with Imperfect Intellectual Property Rights

“…This happens if the degree of potential market competition is high, and in this case, all information remains concentrated inside the boundaries of a single Þrm. 7 On the other hand, if the degree of potential competition on the Þnal product market is low, competition is the equilibrium market outcome.…”

Propriedade Intelectual e Concorrência

“… que se preocupam em encontrar uma dosagem dos dispositivos legais do sistema patentário de modo tanto a garantir adequadas condições de apropriabilidade para incentivar a atividade inovativa, quanto a não impedir a posterior disseminação do conhecimento tecnológico, bem como de seu uso e aperfeiçoamento (por exemplo, Besen & Raskind, 1991); pode também ser visto como um trade-off entre eficiências estática e dinâmica (Ordover, 1991).…”