Economics of Intellectual Property Law

by Robert P. Merges

Overview

For this comprehensive collection, the editor has brought together key readings on the subject of the law and economics of intellectual property rights - patents, copyrights and trademarks. It provides a judicious selection of the most important published research on this crucial topic, drawing equally from the law and economics literature. It thus brings together frequently cited classic articles that are rarely encountered in a single published source.

The articles have been selected on the basis of three primary criteria: their continuing influence in legal and economic discussions; their longevity (important in a field where the volume of published work is very large and growing very quickly); and their relevance to contemporary theoretical and policy debates. The chosen writings delve deeply into theory, empirics, and institutional detail, ranging from Edwin Mansfield's early, influential study on patents and imitation costs, to very recent work on the relationship between copyright law and the first amendment. This collection makes an indispensable desk reference for scholars of intellectual property rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845425456
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	02/21/2008
Series:	Economic Approaches to Law series , #16
Pages:	1104
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Edited by Robert P. Merges, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professor of Law and Technology and Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, University of California, Berkeley, US

Table of Contents

Contents:

Volume I

Acknowledgements

Introduction Robert P. Merges

PART I PATENTS
1. Roger L. Beck (1983), ‘The Prospect Theory of the Patent System and Unproductive Competition’
2. Alfred E. Kahn (1940), ‘Fundamental Deficiencies of the American Patent Law’
3. Edmund W. Kitch (1977), ‘The Nature and Function of the Patent System’
4. Nancy T. Gallini (2002), ‘The Economics of Patents: Lessons from Recent U.S. Patent Reform’
5. Richard Gilbert and Carl Shapiro (1990), ‘Optimal Patent Length and Breadth’
6. Henry Grabowski and John Vernon (1986), ‘Longer Patents for Lower Imitation Barriers: The 1984 Drug Act’
7. Mark F. Grady and Jay I. Alexander (1992), ‘Patent Law and Rent Dissipation’
8. Louis Kaplow (1984), ‘The Patent-Antitrust Intersection: A Reappraisal’
9. Jean O. Lanjouw and Mark Schankerman (2001), ‘Characteristics of Patent Litigation: A Window on Competition’
10. Josh Lerner (2002), ‘150 Years of Patent Protection’
11. Edwin Mansfield, Mark Schwartz and Samuel Wagner (1981), ‘Imitation Costs and Patents: An Empirical Study’
12. Robert P. Merges and Richard R. Nelson (1990), ‘On the Complex Economics of Patent Scope’
13. Robert P. Merges (1994), ‘Of Property Rules, Coase, and Intellectual Property’
14. William D. Nordhaus (1972), ‘The Optimal Life of a Patent: Reply’
15. Edith Penrose (1973), ‘International Patenting and the Less-Developed Countries’
16. Mark Schankerman and Ariel Pakes (1986), ‘Estimates of the Value of Patent Rights in European Countries During the Post-1950 Period’
17. F.M. Scherer (1965), ‘Firm Size, Market Structure, Opportunity and the Output of Patented Inventions’
18. F.M. Scherer (1972), ‘Nordhaus’ Theory of Optimal Patent Life: A Geometric Reinterpretation’
19. Suzanne Scotchmer (1991), ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Cumulative Research and the Patent Law’
20. Brian D. Wright (1983), ‘The Economics of Invention Incentives: Patents, Prizes and Research Contracts’

Name Index


Volume II

Acknowledgements

An introduction by the editor to both volumes appears in Volume I

PART I COPYRIGHT
1. Yochai Benkler (1999), Excerpt from ‘Free as the Air to Common Use: First Amendment Constraints on Enclosure of the Public Domain’
2. Stanley M. Besen, Sheila N. Kirby and Steven C. Salop (1992), ‘An Economic Analysis of Copyright Collectives’
3. Stanley M. Besen and Sheila Nataraj Kirby (1989), ‘Private Copying, Appropriability, and Optimal Copyright Royalties’
4. Stephen Breyer (1970), ‘The Uneasy Case for Copyright: A Study of Copyright in Books, Photocopies, and Computer Programs’
5. William W. Fisher III (1988), ‘Reconstructing the Fair Use Doctrine’
6. William R. Johnson (1985), ‘The Economics of Copying’
7. William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner (1989), ‘An Economic Analysis of Copyright Law’
8. Josh Lerner and Jean Tirole (2002), ‘Some Simple Economics of Open Source’
9. Hal Varian (2000), ‘Buying, Sharing and Renting Information Goods’
10. Martha Woodmansee (1984), ‘The Genius and the Copyright: Economic and Legal Conditions of the Emergence of the ‘Author’’

PART II TRADEMARKS
11. Robert G. Bone (2004), ‘Enforcement Costs and Trademark Puzzles’
12. John F. Coverdale (1984), ‘Trademarks and Generic Words: An Effect-on-Competition Test’
13. Gene M. Grossman and Carl Shapiro (1988), ‘Foreign Counterfeiting of Status Goods’
14. Milton Handler and Charles Pickett (1930), ‘Trade-Marks and Trade Names – An Analysis and Synthesis: II’
15. William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner (1987), ‘Trademark Law: An Economic Perspective’
16. Frank I. Schechter (1927), ‘The Rational Basis of Trademark Protection’
17. Steven Tadelis (1999), ‘What’s in a Name? Reputation as a Tradable Asset’

Name Index