Assessing the Economic Effects of Patents

Marc Dressler ()

Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 2012, vol. 3, issue 3, 294-301

Abstract: This paper seeks to establish against which standard the economic effects of patents are to be assessed. It does so in presenting the two economic doctrines of patents’ role in economy. The first doctrine assumes for patents an incentive function to innovate; the second doctrine assumes for patents a protective function to sustain competition based on innovations. Criticism of the doctrines reveals crucial shortcomings of both, what makes any research idle on how effectively patents fulfil the respective functions. This leads to the conclusion that due to the lack of a sufficient economic theory of patents, an assessment of the economic effects of patents cannot be conclusive; thus, any economic justification of a patent system must be biassed to date. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2012

Keywords: Patents; Innovation; European Patent Convention; Knowledge policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s13132-011-0045-8

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