Intellectual Property Protection and Financial Markets: Patenting versus Secrecy*

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nishant Dass ◽  
Vikram Nanda ◽  
Haemin Dennis Park ◽  
Steven Chong Xiao

Abstract Firms rely on patenting and trade secrecy to protect their intellectual property. We study how changes in the trade-off between patenting and secrecy affect firms’ stock liquidity and financing outcomes. We show that an international trade agreement (TRIPS) that strengthened patent protection led to a 10.2% increase in patenting, accompanied by a 14.0%–27.1% improvement in stock liquidity for firms in patent-reliant industries. This in turn allows the affected firms to increase equity financing by 1.9% and reduce leverage by 5.9%. Our results suggest that policies that promote use of patenting over secrecy can reduce informational frictions in equity markets.

Author(s):  
Noam Shemtov

This chapter examines the scope of protection to which graphical user interfaces may be eligible under various intellectual property rights: namely, trade marks, unfair-competition laws, design rights, copyright, and patents. It first considers the extent of copyright protection over a software product’s ‘look-and-feel’ elements, with particular emphasis on graphical user interfaces protection under US and EU laws. It then discusses trade-mark, trade-dress, and unfair-competition protection for graphical user interfaces, along with intellectual property rights protection for design patents and registered designs. Finally, it describes the patent protection for graphical user interfaces in the United States and at the European Patent Office.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Tcholakov

Abstract Background Globalization is recognized to as a contributing factor to a health harming environment through a variety of mechanisms including through changes in food systems and food availability. Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is linked to obesity and diabetes and its regulation is a key priority for public health. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is an international trade agreement between 11 countries. Methods This project uses of natural experiment methods to predict the impact of the entry into force of the CPTPP on SSB consumption. These methods allow quantitative inferences to be drawn in the situations where the exposure is not randomly assigned. Soft drink consumption data was collected from the Euromonitor database for 80 countries from all regions. This data was used to estimate the effect of agreements similar to the TPP. Results Eleven country trade agreement pairs were identified. In 5 cases out of the 11, the exposed country had a higher soft drink consumption at five years after the trade agreement. The effect of the trade agreement exposure for an average country in the sample in a trade agreement was found to be 1.10 (95% CI: 1.01-1.18; p-value: 0.03) after adjusting for GDP and the involvement of the US. In 7 of the 11 member-countries soft drink consumption is expected to increase yielding an average increase of 9.0% in those countries; the changes did not yield statistically significant differences in others. Conclusions This projected extended the use of synthetic methods to the projection of future effects of policy implementation. While it showed that there may be increasing trend of SSB consumption in certain scenarios, this could not be generalized to all cases. This illustrates the wide range of effects of international trade liberalization and highlights that national policy probably plays a strong modulating role on the impact that it has on local food environments. Key messages Globalization can lead to health harming environments and its impacts should further be studied by public health professionals and researchers. Many global policies have the potential to lead to significant health impacts but are negotiated without involving public health experts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus C. Chu ◽  
Zonglai Kou ◽  
Xilin Wang

Abstract This study provides a growth-theoretic analysis of the effects of intellectual property rights on the take-off of an economy from an era of stagnation to a state of sustained economic growth. We incorporate patent protection into a Schumpeterian growth model in which take-off occurs when the population size crosses an endogenous threshold. We find that strengthening patent protection has contrasting effects on economic growth at different stages of development. Specifically, it leads to an earlier take-off but also reduces economic growth in the long run.


1995 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam L. Campanella

THE NEW REGIONALISM, MANIFESTED IN EUROPE BY THE SINGLE European Act and the Maastricht Treaty (1992) and in North America by the signature of the North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA 1993), is centred on strategic policies and new institutions, the aims of which are to achieve a more effective role in global competition. In Europe, the shift is marked by the impending process of monetary union and the creation of its related institutions. The new approach agreed in the Maastricht Treaty sets out four requirements for eligibility to membership of monetary union. Convergence criteria embodying the judgment of financial markets about future inflation, exchange rate and fiscal policy appeared to be the second best choice for governments seeking to institutionalize their commitment to inflation-avoiding policies. The whole mechanism is meant first to provide the region with a credible monetary institution able to win over the financial markets and secondly to set up bulwarks to the inflation-prone pressures of domestic sheltered interests. Thirdly, the aim is to commit member countries, through a so-called targeting exercise (in Keohane's words) to accomplishing the agreed objectives with monetary discipline and macroeconomic adjustment.


2008 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Accominotti ◽  
Marc Flandreau

Textbook accounts of the Anglo-French trade agreement of 1860 argue that it heralded the beginning of a liberal trading order. This alleged success holds much interest from a modern policy point of view, for it rested on bilateral negotiations and most-favored-nation clauses. With the help of new data on international trade (the RICardo database), the authors provide empirical evidence and find that the treaty and subsequent network of MFN trade agreements coincided with the end of a period of unilateral liberalization across the world. They also find that it did not contribute to expanding trade at all. This is contrary to a deeply rooted belief among economists, economic historians, and political scientists. The authors draw a number of policy lessons that run counter to the conventional wisdom and raise skepticism toward the ability of bilateralism and MFN arrangements to promote trade liberalization.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Anis Kacem

Tunisia has signed a free trade agreement with the European Union in 1996, which provides for the reduction of tariff barriers between Tunisia and the EU. In this article, we aim to know and test whether the similarity of the institutional framework has to stimulate international trade between Tunisia and the European Union. In this context, we built a variable called “Institutional distance” to valid the institutional dimension of international trade, near borders effects reported in the literature. To this end, a gravity model was used initially (Tunisia and 21 European countries). Secondly, the estimate shows the existence of spatial autocorrelation. The latter has been corrected using spatial econometrics. The results show that the geographical distance remains more important than the institutions in this type of agreement between north and south shores of the Mediterranean.


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