Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Exploring the Hidden Costs of Patents

  • Chapter
Global Intellectual Property Rights

Abstract

The popular conception of the patent system is one of mad inventors with ludicrous inventions and equally absurd expectations that the product of their years of pottering in the garden shed will change the world. Precisely the same system is the bulwark of strategy in some of the world’s most powerful companies, and is fundamental to the way the drugs of modern medicine are discovered and developed. Can the one instrument serve such diverse purposes (see Thurow, 1997)? Certainly those for whom the patent system is of critical strategic importance think so for they frequently declare that it benefits the independent inventor and the small firm. They insist that the patent system encourages the innovation by the weak as well as the strong, and that society is much the richer for this innovation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Anon (1978) ‘Macaulay on copyright’, Journal ofPolitical Economy, vol. 86, no. 5, back cover.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Patent Office (1980) Pilot Study of the Users of Patent Information and their Needs (Canberra, September).

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Patent Office (1981) Patent Literature, a Source of Technical Information (Canberra: AGPS).

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton, J. (1997) ‘Paradigms of Intellectual Property. Competition Balances in the Information Sector’, paper delivered to the OECD workshop, The Economics of the Information Society, London, March.

    Google Scholar 

  • Betts, P. and B. Groom (2001) ‘Industry Urges Faster EU Reform’, Financial Times, 20 March.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackman, M. (1994) ‘Taking Patent Information Services to Small and Medium Enterprises’, Intellectual Property in Asia and the Pacific, vol. 40, pp. 44–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braun, E. and S. Macdonald (1978) Revolution in Miniature. The History and Impact of Semiconductor Electronics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, D. (2001) ‘La propriete intellectuelle, c’est le vol’, Le Monde, 8–9 April, pp. 1, 13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feller, I. (1990) ‘Universities as Engines of R&D-based Economic Growth: They Think They Can’, Research Policy, vol. 19, pp. 335–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forbes ASAP Supplement (1993) ‘Patent Plague’, p. 62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, R. and C. Shapiro (1990) ‘Optimal Patent Length and Breadth’, Rand Journal ofEconomics, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 106–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greiner, L. and L. Barnes (1970) ‘Organization Change and Development’, in G. Dalton and P. Lawrence (eds), Organizational Change and Development (Homewood, Illinois, Irwin-Dorsey), pp. 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griliches, Z. (1989) ‘Patents: Recent Trends and Puzzles’, Brookings Papers: Microeconomics, pp. 291–319.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (1989) ‘BTG: The Mother of Invention’, Director, September, pp. 121–2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howes, K. (1993) ‘The Shield and the Sword’, Satellite Communications, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 6A-9A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, R. and S. Carmichael (1981) Australian Science and Technology Indicators Feasibility Study — Private Enterprise. Final Report, Occasional Paper 4 (Canberra: Australian Department of Science and Technology).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahaner, L. (1983) ‘Changes Pending for the Patent System’, High Technology, vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 48–5 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kass, L. (1982) ‘The Right to Patent’, Dialogue, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 42–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingston, W. (ed.) (1987) Direct Protection of Innovation (Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic).

    Google Scholar 

  • Labich, K. (1988) ‘The Innovators’, Fortune, 6 June, pp. 27–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin, R., A. Klevorick, R. Nelson and S. Winter (1987) Appropriating the Returns from Industrial Research and Development, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, vol. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liebesny, F. (1972) ‘Patents as Sources of Information’ in F. Liebesny (ed.), Mainly on Patents (London: Butterworth), pp. 117–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Littler, D. and A.W. Pearson (1979) ‘The Employee Inventor and the New Patents Act’, Planned Innovation, vol. 2, no. 10, pp. 335–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald, S. (1987), ‘British Science Parks: Reflections on the Politics of High Technology’, R&D Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 25–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald, S. (1990), Technology and the Tyranny ofExport Controls. Whisper Who Dares (London: Macmillan — now Palgrave Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald, S. (1998) Information for Innovation. Managing Change from an Information Perspective (Oxford: OUP).

    Google Scholar 

  • Machlup, F. (1958) An Economic Review of the Patent System, Studies of the US Patent System No. 15, US Senate Sub-committee on Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandeville, T. (1982) ‘Engineers and the Patent System: Results of a Survey of Members of the Institution of Engineers’, in T. Mandeville, D. Lamberton and J. Bishop (eds), Supporting Papers for Economic Effects of the Australian Patent System (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandeville, T. and J. Bishop (1982) ‘Economic Effects of the Patent System: Results of a Survey of Patent Attorneys’, in T. Mandeville, D. Lamberton and J. Bishop (eds), Supporting Papers for Economic Effects of the Australian Patent System (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansfield, E. (1986), ‘Patents and Innovation: An Empirical Study’, Management Science, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 173–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mansfield, E., M. Schwartz and S. Wagner (1981) ‘Imitation Costs and Patents: An Empirical Study’, Economic Journal, vol. 91, no. 364, pp. 907–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markham, J. (1962) ‘Inventive Activity: Government Controls and the Legal Environment’ in National Bureau of Economic Research, The Rate and Direction ofInventive Activity (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Marschan-Piekkari, R., D. Assimakopoulos and S. Macdonald (forthcoming), ‘Esprit: Europe’s response to US and Japanese domination in IT’, in Coopey R. (ed.), Collaboration and Information Technology (Oxford: OUP).

    Google Scholar 

  • Merges, R. (1988) ‘Commercial Success and Patent Standards: Economic Perspectives on Innovation’, California Law Review, vol. 76, pp. 805–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. (1988) ‘Productivity and Competition: A Look at the Pharmaceutical Industry’, Columbia Journal of World Business, Fall, pp. 85–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moss, C. and A. Evans (1987) ‘Protecting Ideas and New Products’, Industrial Management and Data Systems, September—October, pp. 21–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mossinghoff, G. and T. Bombelles (1996), ‘The Importance of Intellectual Property to American Research-Intensive Pharmaceutical Industry’, Columbia Journal of World Business, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 38–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nature (1929) ‘The Grant of Invalid Patents’, 9 November, p. 713.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orkin, N. (1984) ‘Rewarding Employee Invention: Time for Change’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 56–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, N. (1986) ‘The Surprising New Power of Patents’, Fortune, 23 June, pp. 73–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilling, D. (2001), ‘Patent Case Holds Key for Drug Groups’, Financial Times, 18 April, p. 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, M. (1943) ‘Patent Reform’, Review of Economic Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 61–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, V. (1989) ‘The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988: The Triumph of Expediency Over Principle’, Journal of Law and Society, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 340–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivette, K. and D. Kline (2000) ‘Discovering the New Value in Intellectual Property’, Harvard Business Review, January—February 2000, pp. 54–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, N. (1974) ‘Science, Invention and Economic Growth’, Economic Journal, vol. 84, no. 333, pp. 90–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothwell, R. (1992) ‘Successful Industrial Innovation: Critical Factors for the 1990s’, R&D Management, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 221–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothwell, R. (1994) ‘Towards the Fifth Generation Innovation Process’, International Marketing Review, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 7–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmookler, J. (1957) ‘Inventors Past and Present’, Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 39, pp. 321–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schott, K. (1981) Industrial Innovation in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States (London: British North American Committee).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. (1939) Business Cycles (New York: McGraw-Hill).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sciberras, E. (1986) ‘Indicators of Technical Intensity and International Competitiveness: A Case for Supplementing Quantitative Data with Qualitative Studies in Research’, R&D Management, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 3–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, A. (1990) ‘Responding to the Changing Patent System’, Research Technology Management, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 38–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shulman, S. (1995) ‘Patent Medicine’, Technology Review, vol. 98, no. 8, pp. 28–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverman, A. (1990) ‘Intellectual Property Law and the Venture Capital Process’, High Technology Law Journal, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 157–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, E. (1996), ‘Innovation and Intellectual Property Protection: The Software Industry Perspective’, Columbia Journal of World Business, Spring, pp. 30–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takalo, T. and V. Kanniainen (1997) ‘Do Patents Slow Down Technological Progress?’, paper presented to the conference New Developments in Intellectual Property: Economics and Law, Oxford, March.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tapon, F. (1989) ‘A Transaction Cost Analysis of Innovations in the Organization of Pharmaceutical R&D’, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, vol. 12, pp. 197–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C. and Z. Silberston (1973) The Economic Impact of the Patent System (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Teece, D. (1988) ‘Capturing Value from Technological Innovation: Integration, Strategic Partnering, and Licensing Decisions’, Interfaces, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 46–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thurow, L. (1997), ‘Needed: A New System of Intellectual Property Rights’, Harvard Business Review, September-October, pp. 95–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wyatt, G. (1977–8) The Determinants of Inventive Activity Reconsidered, Working Paper 2, Department of Economics, Heriot-Watt University.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Stuart Macdonald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Australian National University, Australia

    Peter Drahos (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Oxfam GB, UK

    Ruth Mayne (Policy adviser on trade, investment and economics) (Policy adviser on trade, investment and economics)

Copyright information

© 2002 Stuart Macdonald

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Macdonald, S. (2002). Exploring the Hidden Costs of Patents. In: Drahos, P., Mayne, R. (eds) Global Intellectual Property Rights. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230522923_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation