Innovation and venture capital exit performance

Venture capital is a potent source of R&D financing which contributes significantly to technological innovation output in the form of patented inventions. Scholars have argued that tighter protection of intellectual property rights reduces expropriation risks and encourages venture capitalists to invest in technology firms. Prior studies have showed that early stage technology investors give much weight to investment selection criteria related to innovation e.g. protection of intellectual property, platform and uniqueness. However, VC investors generally receive little on their investments until a liquidation event occurs – IPO and M&A (trade sale) exits define venture capital performance. A review of the literature indicates that few empirical studies have examined the influence of patented innovation on the exit performance of VC-backed technology firms. This paper seeks to address this specific knowledge gap in venture capital research and practice. It builds on resource-based view (RBV) theory which argues that technological innovation is an important strategic resource of the entrepreneurial firm that can attract VC investment, provide competitive advantage and produce superior performance. This study is based on matched data compiled from VentureXpertTM, DelphionTM and NBER/USPTO databases. The resulting unique and proprietary dataset consists of 1504 U.S. VC-backed exits across 7 technology sectors in the 20 years from 1980-2000, 961 IPOs and 543 M&As. The influence of technological innovation on the exit performance of VC-backed technology firms is examined. As predicted by RBV theory, technology firms engaged in patenting activity were found more likely to be associated with the more profitable IPO exit route, higher VC investment and exit value

The Role of Patents in Latin American Development: 'models of protection' of pharmaceutical patents and access to medicines in Brazil, Chile and Venezuela

The Role of Patents in the Latin American Development: ‘Models of Protection’ of pharmaceutical patents and access to medicines in Brazil, Chile and Venezuela Access to medicines, pharmaceutical patents, and public health are topics often addressed in the news. On the one hand, there is an imperative need to tackle pressing health concerns, and on the other hand, it is also important to provide adequate incentives to carry out research and development. Even though common health concerns exist within the developing world, each country has a different set of needs. The approach to solve or the strategies to balance intellectual property rights and access to medicines vary at large. Latin American countries i.e. Brazil, Chile and Venezuela, even though geographically located in the same continent, deal with the challenges in a different and unique manner. Before the TRIPS Agreement countries had the freedom to decide on whether or not to grant patent protection for medicines. Thus, most of the developing and least developed countries, now WTO member countries, did not provide patent protection for pharmaceuticals because they feared that patent protection would increase the price of pharmaceuticals, and hence, become an obstacle for the access to medicines. On the one hand, patent protection represents an incentive for the pharmaceutical industry to carry out R&D for new and needed drugs. But on the other hand, patents, as the system of financing R&D, has been regarded as a flawed system due to the high costs transferred to the finalised product (medicine) thus deterring access to medicines. Patent protection allows the inventor to prevent others from making use, selling, producing or distributing the invention without his consent for a period of no less than 20 years. Moreover, these rights conferred by the patent grant seem to constitute the pharmaceutical industry’s incentive to recoup the high costs associated with the R&D of a new drug. This book reviews the strategies or models of protection used in Brazil, Chile and Venezuela to balance both intellectual property rights (pharmaceutical patents) and access to medicines. Each country seems to have shaped their policies in accordance with their national priorities, whether these are motivated by health, political or commercial issues. This study portrays the different approaches followed in different national contexts despite all three having to implement the minimum standards of intellectual property protection according to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). The outcome of the comparison of the policy implementations and the patterns followed by each of the analysed countries is without a doubt the main contribution of this academic study

Legal Mechanism: Foreign Brand Claims Against Potentially Geographical Indications of Indonesia

International community has recognized the superiority and quality of original Indonesian products, as a result, some native Indonesian products are claimed by foreigners as their trademarks, for example Gayo Arabica Coffee and Toraja Coffee. Indonesia in providing protection is a bit behind in seeing the potential of its own region. The research problem is to examine the juridical claims of foreign companies against products with potential Indonesian Geographical Indications, and the settlement mechanism based on Law Number 20 of 2016 concerning Trademarks and Geographical Indications. Research method used is normative juridical with a statute approach. Claim of foreign companies against products with the potential for Indonesian Geographical Indications is the use of Intellectual Property Rights without rights, based on the MUI Fatwa decision, this is an injustice that is unlawful. The legal settlement mechanism for foreign brand claims against products with potential Indonesian Geographical Indications based on Law Number 20 of 2016 concerning Marks and Geographical Indications is dependent on the violation of the claim, whether the party making the claim is in good faith or not. If at the time a sign is applied for registration as a Geographical Indication, a sign is used in good faith, the party can still use it for a period of two years, but if there is no good faith, it can take the mechanism of filing a lawsuit in the form of an application for compensation against the User of the Geographical Indication without rights.&nbsp

Toward a Human Rights Framework for Intellectual Property

This Article, prepared for a Symposium on Intellectual Property and Social Justice held at the University of California at Davis School of Law in March 2006, addresses the growing intersection of human rights law and intellectual property law. Its principal point of departure is a November 2005 General Comment on the right of everyone to benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author - a relatively obscure provision of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Article builds upon the analysis in the General Comment to sketch the tentative outlines of a human rights framework for intellectual property, a framework that offers a distinctive approach for mediating the two fields of law and policy. The Article also analyzes the rapidly changing institutional environment in which states and NGOs are generating new legal rules to govern the interface between human rights and intellectual property. It focuses in particular on three recent treaty-making initiatives in three intergovernmental organizations - UNESCO, WHO, and WIPO. These initiatives include (1) the recently adopted Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, (2) the proposed Medical Research and Development Treaty, and (3) the proposed Access to Knowledge Treaty. Each of these treaty texts draws upon international human rights law in different ways to question existing approaches to intellectual property protection and to revise the mandates of intergovernmental organizations

Intellectual Property and the Prisoner’s Dilemma: A Game Theory Justification of Copyrights, Patents, and Trade Secrets

In this article, I will offer an argument for the protection of intellectual property based on individual self-interest and prudence. In large part, this argument will parallel considerations that arise in a prisoner’s dilemma game. In brief, allowing content to be unprotected in terms of free access leads to a sub-optimal outcome where creation and innovation are suppressed. Adopting the institutions of copyright, patent, and trade secret is one way to avoid these sub-optimal results

Protecting the Right to Exist as a People: Intellectual Property as a Means to Protect Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Culture

The dominant Western culture has created a legal system premised upon an individualistic and commercial foundation for intellectual property rights (IPR). This system necessarily excludes the protection of traditional knowledge and other components of Indigenous cultures, as well as concepts of communal responsibility for the keeping and transfer of such ideas and knowledge. These concepts are foundational to Indigenous knowledge systems in Alaska, as well as throughout the world. Today, a focus on this issue is critical to the preservation of indigenous cultures and their ways of knowing. We examine where national and international intellectual property rights systems are in addressing Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights (Indigenous CIPR). We also examine opportunities for expansion of such rights in Alaska and around the world.Ye

Intellectual Property and Opportunities for Food Security in the Philippines

By 2050, the Philippine population is projected to increase by as much as 41 percent, from 99.9 million to nearly 153 million people. Producing enough food for such an expanding population and achieving food security remain a challenge for the Philippine government. This paper argued that intellectual property rights (IPR) can play a key role in achieving the nation’s current goal to be food-secure and provided examples to illustrate that the presence of sound intellectual property (IP) helps foster research, development, and deployment of agricultural innovations. This paper also offered key recommendations about how the IP system can be further leveraged to enable access, creation, and commercialization of new and innovative agricultural practices and technologies to enhance the nation’s agricultural productivity, meet rice self-sufficiency, and sustain food security

The Role of Trade Secrets in Innovation Policy

[Excerpt] This report provides an overview of the law and policy of trade secrets. It discusses the role of trade secrets in U.S. innovation policy. It then reviews the sources of trade secret law and the substantive rules that they provide. The report then provides a more detailed review of existing federal legislation that pertains to trade secrets. In its next section, the report then discusses the relationship between patent law and trade secret law. The report closes with an identification of congressional issues and options within this field

Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity in South Africa : CSIR case

The focus of this paper is traditional knowledge (TK) and indigenous biological resources protection in South Africa, through the analysis of the existing policies and legislations, in order to provide a useful insight for a developed country such as Japan which has recently adopted the guidelines for the protection of TK and biological resources and promotion of access and benefit sharing (ABS). South Africa is the 3rd most diverse country in terms of natural resources, culture and traditions, languages and geology and its comprehensive legislative framework system shows the country\u27s seriousness to safeguard TK and conserve biological resources for future generations. The paper uses the South Africa\u27s government owned research and technology development institution, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), as an example to demonstrate the application of the TK protection and biodiversity conservation (including access and benefit sharing) laws, through case studies approach for lessons learned for other African countries, contemplating creation of their own TK protection and environmental conservation. Due to the repositioning of CSIR within the local and global research and develop, the organisation has adopted Industrialisation Strategy, and TK will play a significant role in technology development and new business models in rural agroprocessing and production to enhance inclusive development (through benefit sharing) and support economic growth. The paper concludes that TK and indigenous biological resources protection through the relevant government laws, as well as value addition to TK and biodiversity through research and development supported by government funding, is necessary for socioeconomic attainment, especially for local and indigenous communities and rural agroprocessing businesses as part of benefit sharing