Intellectual property rights in a knowledge-based economy

Intellectual property rights (IPR) have been created as economic mechanisms to facilitate ongoing innovation by granting inventors a temporary monopoly in return for disclosure of technical know-how. Since the beginning of 1980s, IPR have come under scrutiny as new technological paradigms appeared with the emergence of knowledge-based industries. Knowledge-based products are intangible, non-excludable and non-rivalrous goods. Consequently, it is difficult for their creators to control their dissemination and use. In particular, many information goods are based on network externalities and on the creation of market standards. At the same time, information technologies are generic in the sense of being useful in many places in the economy. Hence, policy makers often define current IPR regimes in the context of new technologies as both over- and under-protective. They are over-protective in the sense that they prevent the dissemination of information which has a very high social value; they are under-protective in the sense that they do not provide strong control over the appropriation of rents from their invention and thus may not provide strong incentives to innovate. During the 1980s, attempts to assess the role of IPR in the process of technological learning have found that even though firms in high-tech sectors do use patents as part of their strategy for intellectual property protection, the reliance of these sectors on patents as an information source for innovation is lower than in traditional industries. Intellectual property rights are based mainly on patents for technical inventions and on copyrights for artistic works. Patents are granted only if inventions display minimal levels of utility, novelty and non-obviousness of technical know-how. By contrast, copyrights protect only final works and their derivatives, but guarantee protection for longer periods, according to the Berne Convention. Licensing is a legal aid that allows the use of patented technology by other firms, in return for royalty fees paid to the inventor. Licensing can be contracted on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis, but in most countries patented knowledge can be exclusively held by its inventors, as legal provisions for compulsory licensing of technologies do not exist. The fair use doctrine aims to prevent formation of perfect monopolies over technological fields and copyrighted artefacts as a result of IPR application. Hence, the use of patented and copyrighted works is permissible in academic research, education and the development of technologies that are complimentary to core technologies. Trade secrecy is meant to prevent inadvertent technology transfer to rival firms and is based on contracts between companies and employees. However, as trade secrets prohibit transfer of knowledge within industries, regulators have attempted to foster disclosure of technical know-how by institutional means of patents, copyrights and sui-generis laws. And indeed, following the provisions formed by IPR regulation, firms have shifted from methods of trade secrecy towards patenting strategies to achieve improved protection of intellectual property, as well as means to acquire competitive advantages in the market by monopolization of technological advances.economics of technology ;

Database Protection in a Global Economy

In 1996, a database treaty that the European Commission had put forward, in connection with the WIPO negotiations on transmissions in cyberspace, ultimately failed to win the support of other regional groups. Since then, the inability of the United States Congress to enact any form of database legislation has stymied further multilateral undertakings on this topic. This impasse may soon be broken, however, owing to the change of Administrations and to the appointment of new committee chairmen in the United States House of Representatives. This article will discuss the prospects for an international regulatory framework for non copyrightable databases in the light of recent developments in the United States. Part 2 will locate the database problem within the larger context of international intellectual property protection, and it will demonstrate why the European Commission’s 1996 Directive on the legal protection of databases represented a radical departure from basic tenets of the classical intellectual property system handed down from the nineteenth century. Part 3 will compare the existing E.U. model of database protection with the two proposed models currently under consideration in the United States, from which any compromise formula is likely to be drawn. It ends with some reflections on the deeper legal and economic implications of these proposals. Part 4 will then explore the implications for the international intellectual property system likely to arise if the U.S. adopts a model of database protection that differs significantly from that of the E.U. It proposes an umbrella treaty to bridge the gap between high and low protectionist models. While a low protectionist outcome in the United States is by no means certain at the time of writing, a careful consideration of ways and means to reduce friction between countries that opt to provide different levels of protection in the global marketplace seems merited at the present juncture

The relationship between copyright and contract law

Contracts lie at the heart of the regulatory system governing the creation and dissemination of cultural products in two respects: (1) The exclusive rights provided by copyright law only turn into financial reward, and thus incentives to creators, through a contract with a third party to exploit protected material. (2) From a user perspective purchases of protected material may take the form of a licensing contract, governing behaviour after the initial transaction. Thus, a review of the relationship between copyright and contract law has to address both supply- and demand-side issues. On the supply side, policy concerns include whether copyright law delivers the often stated aim of securing the financial independence of creators. Particularly acute are the complaints by both creators and producers that they fail to benefit from the exponential increase in the availability of copyright materials on the Internet. On the demand side, the issue of copyright exceptions and their policy justification has become central to a number of reviews and consultations dealing with digital content. Are exceptions based on user needs or market failure? Do exceptions require financial compensation? Can exceptions be contracted out by licence agreements? This report (i) reviews economic theory of contracts, value chains and transaction costs, (ii) identifies a comprehensive range of regulatory options relating to creator and user contracts, using an international comparative approach, (iii) surveys the empirical evidence on the effects of regulatory intervention, and (iv) where no evidence is available, extrapolates predicted effects from theory

The role of intellectual property rights in information and communication technologies

The paper starts by recapitulating the basic arguments provided by economic theory to explain the existence of the patent system. The paper then concentrates on the three important ICT industries viz., telecommunication equipment, computer hardware and semiconductor industries. The issues covered in the discussion on these industries are the technological characteristics; market structure and technology transfer experiences of selected developing countries. Even though there are some differences in these industries, what come out clearly are some similarities. These similarities pertain to concentration by firm as well as country; rapid technological changes; existence of scale economies; rising minimum efficient levels of production; entry barriers to the industries both financial and technological etc. Bresnahan, Stern and Trajtenbert [1997] show that in the computer PC market brand name and being on technological frontier help the firm in appropriating inventions. Taylor and Silberston [1973] observe that in electronics while patents by themselves are not important method of appropriation, it encourages firms to accumulate patents so that they can have an advantage in cross-licensing agreements. This finding was reiterated by Hall and Ham [1999] for semiconductor industry. They name this phenomenon "patent portfolio race". The paper briefly touches upon the issues pertaining to Internet and the problems it raises for copyright; protection of computer software and the discussion on a sui generis protection for databases. The paper concludes that the role of IPRs in ICT seems to be marginal and as prices are falling it does not seem to be attracting negative attention.Intellectual property rights, patents, information and communication technologies

The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Information and Communication Technologies

The paper starts by recapitulating the basic arguments provided by economic theory to explain the existence of the patent system. The paper then concentrates on the three important ICT industries viz., telecommunication equipment, computer hardware and semiconductor industries. The issues covered in the discussion on these industries are the technological characteristics; market structure and technology transfer experiences of selected developing countries. Even though there are some differences in these industries, what come out clearly are some similarities. These similarities pertain to concentration by firm as well as country; rapid technological changes; existence of scale economies; rising minimum efficient levels of production; entry barriers to the industries both financial and technological etc. Bresnahan, Stern and Trajtenbert [1997] show that in the computer PC market brand name and being on technological frontier help the firm in appropriating inventions. Taylor and Silberston [1973] observe that in electronics while patents by themselves are not important method of appropriation, it encourages firms to accumulate patents so that they can have an advantage in cross-licensing agreements. This finding was reiterated by Hall and Ham [1999] for semiconductor industry. They name this phenomenon patent portfolio race. The paper briefly touches upon the issues pertaining to Internet and the problems it raises for copyright; protection of computer software and the discussion on a sui generis protection for databases. The paper concludes that the role of IPRs in ICT seems to be marginal and as prices are falling it does not seem to be attracting negative attention.intellectual property rights, Patents, information and communication technologies.

TOWARDS INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES FOR E-SCIENCE: The Scope of the Challenge

The three-fold purpose of this Report to the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Research Councils (UK) is to: • articulate the nature and significance of the non-technological issues that will bear on the practical effectiveness of the hardware and software infrastructures that are being created to enable collaborations in e- Science; • characterise succinctly the fundamental sources of the organisational and institutional challenges that need to be addressed in regard to defining terms, rights and responsibilities of the collaborating parties, and to illustrate these by reference to the limited experience gained to date in regard to intellectual property, liability, privacy, and security and competition policy issues affecting scientific research organisations; and • propose approaches for arriving at institutional mechanisms whose establishment would generate workable, specific arrangements facilitating collaboration in e-Science; and, that also might serve to meet similar needs in other spheres such as e- Learning, e-Government, e-Commerce, e-Healthcare. In carrying out these tasks, the report examines developments in enhanced computer-mediated telecommunication networks and digital information technologies, and recent advances in technologies of collaboration. It considers the economic and legal aspects of scientific collaboration, with attention to interactions between formal contracting and 'private ordering' arrangements that rest upon research community norms. It offers definitions of e-Science, virtual laboratories, collaboratories, and develops a taxonomy of collaborative e-Science activities which is implemented to classify British e-Science pilot projects and contrast these with US collaboratory projects funded during the 1990s. The approach to facilitating inter-organizational participation in collaborative projects rests upon the development of a modular structure of contractual clauses that permit flexibility and experience-based learning.

Legal and Policy Framework for Promoting Equitable Access to Documentary Heritage

The National Mission for Manuscripts of India, in association with UNESCO, completed a research study to assist in the development of legal and policy framework and protocols for promoting equitable access to documentary heritage, relevant to India and other South Asian countries. This study report seeks to accurately identify and critically examine the legal and policy framework for promoting equitable access to our documentary heritage. The National Mission for Manuscripts is the most important institution in India creating bibliographic databases of manuscripts and engaged in the conservation and preservation of valuable manuscripts. This report engages with the legal and policy framework which envelops the lifecycle of the Mission’s work: the process of access to manuscripts, digitization of manuscripts and the creation of databases. By critically examining the legal rules in the practical context of the Mission’s work, the research team has put together the first such review of any such initiative in the protection of traditional knowledge in the country. The conclusions of the report are in the form of draft legal agreements and policy recommendations located in the discussion on various parts of the Mission’s work. While this report does not set out to be the final word on these significant policy initiatives, the report definitely makes significant progress in the policy debate and legal literature in this field. This report illustrates working patterns of the Mission within the legal and policy framework in the Country. This report will be a valuable sourcebook for understanding South Asian legal and policy framework for accessing documentary heritage collections. The draft legal agreements and policy recommendations, presented in this report, will also be valuable intervention tools for South Asian countries that share similar legal and policy framework within the sub-region

The EU-Directive on the Legal Protection of Databases and the Incentives to Update: An Economic Analysis

The database directive, initiated by the European Commission in 1992 and due to be finalised in the near future, establishes a two-tiered system of protection, amending copyright with a sui generis rule that grants protection against unfair extraction. The terms of protection are extended if the producter makes "substantial changes" to update the database. This paper analyses the incentive to update created by the database directive. In contrast to the usual findings of the literature on the incentive effects of intellectual property rights, we find that, although in most cases the incentives to update a database are insufficient from society's point of view, the possibility of extending the term of protection by making 'substantial changes' in the database may create an incentive for excessive updating. This leads to conclusions about what should be considered a substantial change -- Die in Datenbank-Direktive, deren endgültige Fassung in Kürze vorliegen wird, garantiert Datanbankproduzenten einen zweistufigen Schutz: Neben dem Urheberrecht existier ein sui generis Recht das vor unlauteren Auszügen schützt und dessen Schutzdauer sich verlängert, wenn der Produzent die Datenbank durch substantielle Änderungen aktualisiert. Dieses Papier befaßt sich mit den Anreizen zur Aktualisierung. Im Gegensatz zu den üblichen Anreizwirkungen von Rechten zum Schutz geistigen Eigentums ergibt sich hier ein Anreiz zu exzessiven Investitionen in die Aktualisierung von Datenbanken. Produzenten nehmen Aktualisierungen auch dann vor, wenn dies gesamtgesellschaftlich nicht wünschenswert ist. Aus dieser Erkenntnis ergeben sich Folgerungen für die Festlegung dessen, was als substantielle Änderung gelten sollte.Copyright,databases,updating