Optimal Rules for Patent Races

Kenneth Judd, Karl Schmedders and Sevin Yeltekin ()

No 2006-E37, GSIA Working Papers from Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business

Abstract: There are two important rules in a patent race: what an innovator must accomplish to receive the patent and the allocation of the benefits that flow from the innovation. Most patent races end before R&D is completed and the prize to the innovator is often less than the social benefit of the innovation. We study the optimal combination of prize and minimal accomplishment necessary to obtain a patent in a dynamic multistage innovation race. A planner, who cannot distinguish between competing firms, chooses the innovation stage at which the patent is awarded and the magnitude of the prize to the winner. We examine both social surplus and consumer surplus maximizing patent race rules. We show that a key consideration is the efficiency costs of transfers and of monopoly power to the patentholder. We show that races are undesirable only when efficiency costs are low, firms have similar technologies, and the planner maximizes social surplus. However, in all other circumstances, the optimal policy spurs innovative effort through a race of nontrivial duration. Races are also used to filter out inferior innovators.

References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://student-3k.tepper.cmu.edu/gsiadoc/wp/2006-E37.pdf
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 401 Unauthorized

Related works:
Journal Article: OPTIMAL RULES FOR PATENT RACES (2012)
Working Paper: Optimal Rules for Patent Races (2002)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cmu:gsiawp:1327023263

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://student-3k.t ... /gsiadoc/GSIA_WP.asp

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in GSIA Working Papers from Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Steve Spear ().