Visibility of Technology and Cumulative Innovation: Evidence from Trade Secrets Laws

Bernhard Ganglmair () and Imke Reimers ()

CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series from University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany

Abstract: We use exogenous variation in the strength of trade secrets protection to show that a relative weakening of patents (compared to trade secrets) has a disproportionately negative effect on the disclosure of processes - inventions that are not otherwise visible to society. We develop a structural model of initial and follow-on innovation to determine the effects of such a shift in disclosure on overall welfare in industries characterized by cumulative innovation. We find that while stronger trade secrets encourage investment in R&D, they may have negative effects on overall welfare - the result of a significant decline in follow-on innovation.

Keywords: cumulative innovation; disclosure; self-disclosing inventions; Uniform Trade Secrets Act (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D80 O31 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61
Date: 2019-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ipr and nep-sbm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp119

Related works:
Working Paper: Visibility of Technology and Cumulative Innovation: Evidence From Trade Secrets Laws (2024)
Working Paper: Visibility of Technology and Cumulative Innovation: Evidence From Trade Secrets Laws (2024)
Working Paper: Visibility of technology and cumulative innovation: Evidence from trade secrets laws (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2019_119v1

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