Biotechnology - Genomic and Proteomics/Overview of Economics of Intellectual Property in BGP

Where does the literature says IP works and does not work?

Where IP does work

• More effective in industries with high R&D costs
  • “On average, a lack of patent protection would have prevented the development of 60% of pharmaceutical and 38% of chemical inventions. In most sectors, a lack of patent protection would have had little impact, resulting in 17% fewer inventions in machinery, 12% less in fabricated metals, 11% less in electrical equipment, and no effect at all in office equipment, motor vehicles, rubber, and textiles.” (Arundel pp. 11)
• More effective in industries like Biotech, where (in the US) research methods can be patented
  • research tools develop faster in biotech than in other industries - so there's a profit to be had just coming up with new research processes (Harison pp. 26)
  • Current US IP law does not make a distinction between discovery and invention, could have possible impact on innovation (pp. 28)
• Patents do work for strategic purposes - in fact, strategic use of patents seems to be becoming more commons
  • “The patenting strategies of American firms appear to be strongly driven by the wish to block competitors and to prevent copying. The use of patents as a means of sharing information, for example through licensing or in negotiations, is less important for American firms than for European and Japanese firms.” (Arundel pp. 13)

Where IP doesn't work

• Less effective in industries where lead time provides big advantages
  • von Hippel and Levin both found that companies preferred to protect innovations through secrecy and lead times (pp. 3)
• In general patents less important than other methods of capitalizing on innovation (Arundel pp. 7-8. Graph on 8)
• Patents do not work well for spreading information
  • only a small number (3%) of high technology firms use patent and copyright publications sources of new information. Compare to trade conferences: 70% (pp. 3,5)

is there data on "how much of an increase of the tendency towards enclosure".

sub-question: e.g. how much does the biotechnology field have patented? Has this movement increased over time?