Imitation Costs and Patents: An Empirical Study

Abstract

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Intellectual property rights business management practices: A survey of the literature

“…Microeconomic empirical studies of patenting in the US by Scherer et al 1959, (Patents and the Corporation, Boston, privately published) and (Mansfield E. et al, 1981), (Mansfield Edwin, 1985a) and Mansfield (1986) and in the UK Taylor and Silberston,1973) called in doubt the hypothesis that patents protect effectively innovations from innovation. The studies also showed that patent protection is important only in a few industries, most notably in pharmaceuticals.…”

Innovation strategy and the patenting behavior of firms

“…The risk to having competitors "inventing around" and the disclosure of critical information are the most important reasons patents are not always considered as an efficient protection mechanism of innovation rents (Levin et al 1987;Scotchmer and Green 1990;Cohen et al 2000). This is illustrated by Mansfield et al (1981), who find that patent protection does not increase imitation time and costs dramatically. Firms that perceive a higher "ineffectiveness" of the patent system and a higher cost of patenting are therefore likely to patent less than other firms.…”

The Effect of University Culture and Stakeholders' Perceptions on University-Business Linking Activities

“…However, the value of a patent will depend on the type of technology it protects and the existing capacity that the organization has for defending the patent in question (Mansfield, 1981). More important than patenting per se, is the ability of the university to actively search among its research activities for developments with the potentia l for commercialization, and to provide researchers with the resources necessary to accomplish them.…”