Strenghtening Intellectual Property rights: Experience from the 1986 Taiwanese Patent Reforms

Intellectual property rights (IPR) have recently moved to the forefront of debates over international policy. As each country establishes its own institutions of IPR, a divergence exists between net producers and net consumers in the returns to providing strong protection. Under pressure from the developed world, many developing countries have begun to strengthen their IPR, particularly as regards patents. These changes in policy provide us with an opportunity to learn more about the effects of intellectual property institutions in developing countries. Whether and to what extent do stronger IPR spur inventive activity in a developing country? What are the factors or characteristics of industries in which strengthening patent rights has the most favorable impact on inventive activity? Will the strengthening of IPR in developing countries induce more foreign direct investment and technology transfer from abroad? In an attempt to answer these questions, this paper uses the 1986 Taiwanese patent reforms to examine the impact of strengthening patent rights in a developing economy. The evidence on the number of patents awarded to Taiwanese inventors as well as that on R&D spending in Taiwan suggests that the reforms stimulated additional inventive activity, especially in industries where patent protection is generally regarded as an effective strategy for extracting returns, and in industries which are more R&D intensive. The reforms also seemed to induce additional foreign direct investment in Taiwan. On the other hand, for industries that chiefly use other mechanisms to extract returns from their innovations, such as secrecy, the strengthening of patent rights had little effect on their inventive activity. Neither investment in R&D nor the number of patents awarded in these industries appeared to be much affected by the strengthening of patent protection.

Does it Matter Who Has the Right to Patent: First-to-invent or First-to-file? Lessons From Canada

A switch to a first-to-file patent regime from its first-to-invent system has become imminent for the U.S. To learn about probable effects of such a policy change, we examine a similar switch that occurred in Canada in 1989. We find that the switch failed to stimulate Canadian R&D efforts. Nor did it have any effects on overall patenting. However, the reforms had a small adverse effect on domestic-oriented industries and skewed the ownership structure of patented inventions towards large corporations, away from independent inventors and small businesses. These findings challenge the merits of adopting a first-to-file patent regime.

Crossover Inventions And Knowledge Diffusion Of General Purpose Technologies? Evidence From The Electrical Technology

Scholars have long noted the significant impact of general purpose technologies (GPTs) on the economy. However, limited attention has been paid to exploring how they are employed to generate inventions in downstream sectors (crossover inventions), and what factors may facilitate such diffusion. We study these issues by examining the introduction of one of the widely regarded GPTs -- electrical technology -- in the late 19th century U.S. We find that knowledge spillovers between industries (inter-industry spillovers and learning-by-using) had little influence on the geography of crossover inventions as well as the speed and productivity of inventors at making them. Instead, appropriate human capital and an environment promoting inventions in general played a more important role.

From Data Transparency and Security to Interfirm Collaboration-A Blockchain Technology Perspective

In recent years, blockchain technology has gained significant attention and recognition in both academic and practical contexts, due to its remarkable attributes of scalability, security, and sustainability. However, despite the growing interest, there is still a lack of exploration regarding the potential of blockchain to improve data transparency, enhance information security, and facilitate knowledge sharing. To address this gap, this study conducts a focused review of recent studies to examine precisely these aspects of blockchain technology. Various paradigms that highlight how the utilization of blockchain can enhance data transparency, bolster information security, and enable seamless knowledge sharing among organizations, are identified and proposed. These advancements surpass the capabilities of traditional methods of storing and sharing information

Preference for Organic Products and Buyers' Socioeconomic Characteristics in Emerging Markets: The Case of Packed Rice in China

Organic products have been popular in the developed world, and scholars have long explored the acceptance, preference, and perceived benefits of organic products in these affluent countries. However, how and to what extent the consumers in developing countries acquire a taste for organic products is not well understood. Moreover, it remains unclear which segment of the population in these countries is more susceptible to organic products. The study aims to comprehend consumers in emerging markets whether they exhibit any preference for organic food products. We focus on the most prominent emerging economy—China—to investigate whether and to what extent its consumers develop a taste for organic rice over non-organic. Our choice of rice is founded on the fact that rice is the staple food for many low- and middle-income countries, and typically employs traditional farming, which heavily uses inorganic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. It is, thus, advantageous to explore the Chinese rice market and assess its rice consumers' acceptance or preference for organic products. We conducted a buyer survey that subjects the participants to a choice model experiment. The participants rank-ordered four hypothetical packed-rice products exhibiting four key product characteristics: organic label, price, package size, and product origin. We analyzed the gathered data through several rank-ordered logit regressions. We found that Chinese packed-rice buyers were yet to develop a taste for organic products. Instead, there existed distaste in general. Such distaste was similar in size between high- and low-income groups but more pronounced for the old or those with no tertiary education or males. Consumers generally were sensitive to price changes, except older individuals. Such individuals, or those only with a grade school education level, or males preferred small packages. Imported rice from Thailand was not well received, but the high-income or young or female population appeared less resistant. To our surprise, the acceptance or preference level of organic rice in China did not differ between the high-income and low-income groups. Such a finding suggested that the preference for organic products might not develop along with a growing economy and increases in the per capita income. Our results indicated that organic products and agriculture suppliers should develop strategies to raise awareness and cultivate a taste for such products effectively

2017 HRS/EHRA/ECAS/APHRS/SOLAECE expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: executive summary.

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2017 HRS/EHRA/ECAS/APHRS/SOLAECE expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: executive summary.

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withdrawn 2017 hrs ehra ecas aphrs solaece expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation

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The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701