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Quality-improving licensing of an outside innovator in a mixed Cournot duopoly

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  • Yang, Le
  • Huang, Zining

Abstract

This paper proposes a mixed Cournot duopoly model with private and partially public firms to study an outside innovator's optimal licensing strategy. The innovator decides how and to whom it licenses its quality-improving innovation. We uncover three main findings. First, constrained to exclusive contracts, fixed-fee licensing to the public firm is always optimal. Second, constrained to non-exclusive contracts, fixed-fee licensing outperforms royalty licensing when the innovation size and the private share of the public firm are sufficiently large. Finally, if the innovator can freely decide on contracting exclusivity, fixed-fee licensing to the public firm emerges as the optimal choice. This result holds even when exclusive auction and two-part tariffs are available. We further examine social welfare effects, determining that a conflict regarding contracting exclusivity may arise between the innovator and the state.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Le & Huang, Zining, 2023. "Quality-improving licensing of an outside innovator in a mixed Cournot duopoly," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:126:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323002444
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106432
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Technology licensing; Quality-improving innovation; Mixed duopoly; Contracting exclusivity; Social welfare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures

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