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 ;

Improving The Organization Of Waste Management Sites: An Operational Perspective

Waste management (WM) operations include a broad variety of processes that aim at removing waste from industrial and private facilities. The waste is treated in different ways in waste management sites, which engage in recycling, landfilling and incinerating. The paper examines the effects of the organization of the WM site and its internal work procedures on its productivity and efficiency, measured by the quantity of processed waste and recycled material. The improvement of waste processing is essential from the environmental standpoint, but has also operational and economic aspects that are important for the proper operation of WM sites

On Financial Bubbles and Earthworms: Lessons from Hungary’s Rural Pyramid during its Economic Transition

In the early 1990s, Former Eastern Bloc countries, including Hungary, experienced a broad transition from centrally-planned economies, managed by party-state bureaucracies, to privatised economies. Throughout the market liberalisation process, the Hungarian market embraced entrepreneurship as a mechanism for generating both private wealth and economic growth, despite a lack of experience and know-how in business management and financial education, made largely unavailable by the communist regime for more than 40 years. On these grounds, several Eastern European countries experienced the rise of Ponzi schemes. The Hungarian earthworm pyramid can serve as an interesting example of the financial pyramids that evolved during the transition of economies. However, some of the characteristics of the Hungarian earthworm pyramid suggest that it was a rather unique case when compared to other Eastern European pyramids during the economic transition period of post-communist nations. Our study concludes that, under different political and economic circumstances

Preventive Service Management: Towards Pro-Active Improvement Of Service Quality

The operation of service providing systems and organizations is challenging, as services typically incorporate a broad set of resources and a complex and sophisticated work practices that fulfill the needs of different consumers. At the same time, the lack of resources allocated for service operations or their mismanagement can yield negative results that are likely to affect customers’ experiences. The paper devises a new framework for implementing preventive service systems that manage complaint prevention operations. Such complaint management may proactively avert service malfunctions and consequent customer complaints. The framework is based on extensive use of IT systems that continuously monitor the infrastructure for service provision in a cycle of activities that includes detection and prevention of service failures, notification of service malfunctions to customers as a part of their service provision, and follow-up operations. The implementation of the framework presented is exemplified by the case of a large telecommunications operator

The Remote Village Square: Exploring The Potential Of Glocal Broadcasting Over The Internet

The growing trends of immigration and international population movements worldwide emphasize issues of the naturalization efforts of immigrants in their new nation, while sustaining their ties to their homeland via the Internet. The paper analyzes the potential of Internet-based regional broadcasting to enhance the attachment of communities of immigrants to their regional identity and culture. A case study conducted at the Dutch Omrop Fryslân radio broadcasting station, and within the communities of its listeners inland and abroad, provides useful insights into the potential role of regional broadcasting as a glocal (i.e. both locally related and globally transmitted) medium of communication in the Internet era. Finally, conclusions on the role of regional public broadcasting stations that transmit via the Internet as a bridgehead to communities of immigrants, and on the glocal nature of their contents, are drawn

Toward Zero Faults In Passenger Flights: A Proposed Framework

The purpose of this paper is the creation of a new framework for airlines to implement information technology systems that will aid in the prevention of service failures and passenger complaints during air travel. This framework can lower the amount of service lapses and subsequent customer complaints, helping to improve service quality and the airline’s reputation through proactive monitoring of the services provided to passengers and avoiding failures. The proposed system is based upon IT systems that are used extensively to continuously monitor the airline’s service infrastructure in the following ways: 1) detecting and preventing service lapses, 2) notifying passengers of malfunctions, and 3) following up with customers. The value of implementing these systems is illustrated through various scenarios that are likely to occur on commercial flights and typically result in complaints from - and discomfort for - travelers

Mobile Business Intelligence: Allocation of Mobile Workers for Competitive Information Gathering

The access to real-time and updated data, in particular information about the position of firms and their competitors in the market, has become the top priority of organizations worldwide. The dynamic and rapidly changing business environment and the increasingly intensive competition suggest that companies require ongoing monitoring of the market, the behaviour and preferences of their customers and their competitors. Frequently updated information enables the firm to proactively, rather than reactively, act towards its competitors and clientele. The paper proposes and analyzes various methodologies and frameworks that employ the mobile labour of firms (such as technicians and maintenance personnel) for gathering information on the premises of clients and their surrounding neighbourhood. As mobile workers already gain access to the client and insights about the product or the service provided by their firm, they can broaden the scope of information gathered from her. The data streams continuously provided by mobile workers require IT infrastructure for transferring, structuring and processing this information to enrich managers and strategic decision makers within the firm with up-to-date, real world insights. The study presents the methodology and proposes different IT architectures that can support the implementation of mobile intelligence gathering in a variety of organizations. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

Automating The Improvement Of Service Quality: The TELCO Case

The case under discussion presents a new and innovative framework for implementing preventive service systems that detect potential service malfunctions, attempt to automatically prevent them and notify customers about the results of these operations. Such automated systems may proactively avert service malfunctions and reduce the volume of customer complaints due to service outages. The presented framework is based on four major stages: continuous detection of service delivery infrastructure and equipment, prevention of identified service failures, notification of customers about service failures and follow-up activities. Telco is a major Israeli telecommunications operator that implemented the preventive service methodology and systems to improve the quality of its services to the satisfaction of its largest customers. The model presented in this paper can be utilized by a broad variety of firms and service providers as means for improving the quality of their services, the satisfaction and the loyalty of customers and the ability to retain them for longer periods in an increasingly competitive environment

Mobile Business Intelligence: Allocation of Mobile Workers for Competitive Information Gathering

The access to real-time and updated data, in particular information about the position of firms and their competitors in the market, has become the top priority of organizations worldwide. The dynamic and rapidly changing business environment and the increasingly intensive competition suggest that companies require ongoing monitoring of the market, the behaviour and preferences of their customers and their competitors. Frequently updated information enables the firm to proactively, rather than reactively, act towards its competitors and clientele. The paper proposes and analyzes various methodologies and frameworks that employ the mobile labour of firms (such as technicians and maintenance personnel) for gathering information on the premises of clients and their surrounding neighbourhood. As mobile workers already gain access to the client and insights about the product or the service provided by their firm, they can broaden the scope of information gathered from her. The data streams continuously provided by mobile workers require IT infrastructure for transferring, structuring and processing this information to enrich managers and strategic decision makers within the firm with up-to-date, real world insights. The study presents the methodology and proposes different IT architectures that can support the implementation of mobile intelligence gathering in a variety of organizations. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p