Patent Length and Breadth as Policy Instruments: A Systematic Review of Recent Contributions to the Theory of Optimal Patent Design

Leandro Meller

No 192, Working Papers from Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE)

Abstract: This article offers a systematic review of the last ten years of contributions to the theoretical literature on optimal patent policy, with focus on patent length and breadth as alternative tools for encouraging innovation, growth or welfare improvement. The articles were classified according to their assumptions about the interconnectedness of different innovations. Three cases have been identified: isolated innovations, cumulative innovations (which, in turn, can be divided into ”research tool” and ”qualityladder” cases) and complementary innovations. According to the results, optimal patent length is finite in some models, whereas it is infinite in others. A similar diversity of results was found in models featuring patent breadth: some of them suggest that it should be minimum, others conclude that an intermediate value would be optimal, and others are more prone to favour maximum breadth. Few works seemed to conclude that two or more kinds of soutions were possible. The four kinds of models exhibited, up to a certain degree, this seeming inconsistency. As a consequence, works presenting sufficient conditions for different sorts of optimal solutions have not been found within this period.

Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2022-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ipr
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