L23: R&D and Patents

Question 1

incentives for innovation

Answer 1

property rights over innovation/ideas through patents

Question 2

the role of intellectual property protection

Answer 2

incentives to innovate only if there are advantages by not letting others compete

Question 3

market size and vaccine innovation - Finkelstein, 2004

Answer 3

do policies that increase demand for vaccines incentivise innovation?

policies increased number of trials by 1.2-1.3 per year yer disease (previously, 0.5 new clinical trials per year per disease)

large magnitudes in increases of yearly market revenue

welfare effects come from increases in vaccination rates and number of lives saved

Question 4

types of innovation protections

Answer 4

patents
- 20 years of protection from filing date

copyrights
- copyright for article only, not for ideas/methods contained in work
- protection lasts 95 years

trademarks
- distinguishing words, symbols to describe a product/firm
- protection has no limit

Question 5

does file-sharing reduce music sales? - Zentner, 2006

Answer 5

music sales would have been 7.8% higher without file sharing

Question 6

optimal patent policy

Answer 6

greater incentives to innovate is the patent lasts longer since you have property rights for a longer time if you discover something new

Question 7

patent breadth

Answer 7

how similar a product has to be in order to infringe a patent
- relevant in markets where firms can easily imitate
- imitation reduces incentives to innovate

increases innovation
- product exists which is good for consumers

decreases competition
- bad for consumers

need to give enough breadth to incentivise innovation on the innovator’s side but not too large that all entrants stay out of the market