Topic updates
Do patents help or hinder innovation?
2nd October 2016
Innovation matters because there are limits to simply copying or imitating what rival firms have managed to achieve. Do patents help or hinder innovation?
Patents may prevent other companies from building on technological developments and therefore hold back the innovative process. Would compulsory licensing of patents be an appropriate policy response in this situation and help small start-ups in particular?
Bell Labs were the biggest innovators of their time, but did their patents block smaller companies from building upon this? Monika Schnitzer (University of Mannheim) explains how requiring Bell Labs to license their patents and forcing them to give up monopoly power caused more innovation.
- Economics
- Blog
- Topic updates
- Patents
- Innovation
- Creative Destruction
- Dynamic efficiency
- Competitiveness
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.
You might also like
30 Most Innovative Countries in the World
24th January 2014
Tim Harford on Monopoly and Innovation
27th August 2014
After the BRICs, the GIPSIs: Tackling Europe’s Problems
10th September 2014
New series of short films on Economics
29th July 2014
Open Data - Britain leads the world
23rd July 2014
Export Complexity - Hidalgo and Hausmann
9th July 2014
Footballs in Pakistan: An Innovation Story
30th May 2014
China at the Cutting Edge
19th September 2013