The idea behind patent policies is to increase the output of commercially useful innovations by creating a transitory propertyy right that allows the inventor to appropriate part of the returns from his invention. In developing countries, two types of considerations need to be addressed. First, there are issues of designing an appropriate patent system. This includes considerations of administrative efficiency, the impact on government expenditures, and the legal administration of intellectual property rights. Second, and more fundamentally, the investments that patent incentives trigger in research and development are one of many uses for scarce savings. Returns to investmentsprotected by patents depend on the productivity of the inventive process and the industrial applicability of innovations. In situations where the innovative processes might be low, care should be taken that scarce investment resources are not wasted in unproductive research and development endeavors. The paper also argues that in unstable and protected economies, the social returns of patented innovations might be low. The analysis suggests a sequencing of policies where patent protecion should be strengthened once developing countries have achieved a level of savings compatible with investments in risky research and development projects, relative economic stability and competition through open market policies.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)