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On the fee elasticity of the demand for trademarks in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Benedikt Herz
  • Malwina Mejer

Abstract

Over the last 20 years there has been a surge in national trademark applications in Europe. This increase in filings has been interpreted as a sign of increased innovative performance. In this paper, we argue that the explanation is much simpler. First, using a novel dataset, we document that trademark filing fees have been steadily decreasing and converging across countries in Europe. Second, using dynamic panel data econometrics, we find that national trademark filings are price-sensitive: a fee decrease by 10% increases filings at an office by about 10.5%. These estimates suggest that a substantial proportion of the rise in filing numbers can be explained by lower fees. We also document that trademark filings at national offices in Europe became more elastic after the mid-1990s. Arguably, this is because the European Community Trademark became available as an attractive alternative to national filings in 1996 and increased the price-sensitivity of applicants.

Suggested Citation

  • Benedikt Herz & Malwina Mejer, 2016. "On the fee elasticity of the demand for trademarks in Europe," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(4), pages 1039-1061.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:68:y:2016:i:4:p:1039-1061.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpw035
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    Cited by:

    1. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of the duration of membership in the World Trade Organization on Trademark Applications," EconStor Preprints 253266, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Fisch, Christian & Meoli, Michele & Vismara, Silvio & Block, Jörn H., 2022. "The effect of trademark breadth on IPO valuation and post-IPO performance: an empirical investigation of 1510 European IPOs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(5).
    3. Herz, Benedikt & Mejer, Malwina, 2019. "Effects of the European Union trademark: Lessons for the harmonization of intellectual property systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1841-1854.
    4. Nasirov, Shukhrat, 2020. "Trademark value indicators: Evidence from the trademark protection lifecycle in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(4).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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