PatentSecret Mix in Complex Product Firms

Authors: Ottoz, Elisabetta; Cugno, Franco

Source: American Law and Economics Review, Volume 10, Number 1, Spring 2008 , pp. 142-158(17)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $42.29 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Different protection mechanisms may be employed at the same time when an innovation is comprised of separately protectable components. If patents and trade secrets can be mixed in protecting single innovations, a strengthening in patent breadth may induce a lower level of patenting, as innovators are more prone to rely on secrecy.

Keywords: K00; L49; O34

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aler/ahn007

Publication date: 2008-03-01

More about this publication?

The rise of the field of law and economics has been extremely rapid over the last 25 years. Among important developments of the 1990s has been the founding of the American Law and Economics Association. The creation and rapid expansion of the ALEA and the creation of parallel associations in Europe, Latin America, and Canada attest to the growing acceptance of the economic perspective on law by judges, practitioners, and policy-makers.