Academic

Goeschl & Swanson on Diffusion of Technology & IP Regimes

By Lawrence Solum

Timo Goeschl and Timothy M. Swanson (Department of Economics, University of Heidelberg and University College London - Department of Economics and Faculty of Law) have posted The Distributive Impact of Global Intellectual Property Regimes: An Empirical Assessment of Diffusion and Distribution on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

We argue that "strong" forms of protection for intellectual property right regimes provide both enhanced incentives for innovation but also reduced rates of diffusion. For this reason it is to be anticipated that the share of benefits from strong global IPR regimes will depend upon the distance from the technological frontier of the state concerned. We examine these propositions by reference to technologically enforced innovation regimes in global agriculture. We estimate that the capacity for full enforcement of property rights over innovations slows diffusion by a factor of 7% of the initial gap between the country and the technological frontier. If this is the case, then the distribution of the benefits from an effective intellectual property rights regime will depend on the initial position of the country concerned relative to the technological frontier. The existence of this innovation-diffusion trade-off highlights the problematic international welfare implications inherent in choosing a strong global regime of intellectual property protection.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on June 18, 2009 (boomark / email).