Autori
Ottoz, Elisabetta
Cugno, Franco

Titolo
Does Banning Side Payments in Patent Settlements Suffice to Fully Protect Consumers?
Periodico
Università degli studi di Torino. Dip. Di Economia e Statistica Cognetti de Martiis. Working paper series
Anno: 2012 - Volume: 1 - Fascicolo: 1 - Pagina iniziale: 1 - Pagina finale: 16

By using a simple model of patent settlement, in this paper we show that even if side payments (negative fixed fees) are banned, a licensing agreement to settle a patent dispute may harm consumers in comparison with the expected outcome of the lawsuit. This may occur when the challenger’s expected return from litigation is low, that is when probabilistic damages are high relative to the challenger’s duopoly profits. Our model suggests that: (1) there may be large benefits to consumers from post-grant reexamination of commercially valuable patents -as stressed by Farrell and Shapiro (2008) in another context; and (2) the threat of punitive damages for patent infringement may harm consumers in the short run, perhaps without being of any help in providing the right incentive to innovate. Keywords: Patent settlements, litigation costs, licensing, consumers’ welfare.



Testo completo: http://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2012dip/1_wp_ottoz_cugno.pdf

Esportazione dati in Refworks (solo per utenti abilitati)