Resolving the patents paradox in the era of COVID-19 and climate change: Towards a patents taxonomy

Juana Bustamante, Christine Oughton, Vanesa Pesque-Cela and Damian Tobin

Research Policy, 2023, vol. 52, issue 9

Abstract: This paper revisits the patents debate and considers the role of intellectual property rights and their impact on society in the context of inventions designed to protect global common pool resources (CPRs) such as public health and the environment. A review of the theoretical and empirical literature suggests that there has never been a clear consensus among researchers on the benefits of the patent system and intellectual property rights. As Robinson notes, “The patent system introduces some of the greatest of the complexities in the capitalist rules of the game and leads to many anomalies.” We explore these anomalies by specifying a taxonomy of patents for different classes of inventions, including inventions to protect CPRs. This includes vaccines and inventions that reduce externalities, such as, CFC gases and greenhouse gas emissions. In these instances, the effectiveness of innovations depends critically on rapid global diffusion. Our theoretical analysis utilises Ostrom's CPR dilemma to analyse the complexities surrounding innovation and CPRs.

Keywords: Patents; Common pool resources; Innovation diffusion; IPR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I18 O3 Q5 Q55 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:9:s0048733323001348

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104850

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