Are patents creative or destructive?
By: Tom Nicholas
Contributors: Harvard Business School
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 14-036; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 14-036
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 24
Description: Current debate over patent aggregation has led to renewed interest in the long standing question concerning whether patents are a creative or a destructive influence on the process of technological development. In this paper I examine the basic patent tradeoff between incentives and monopoly distortions in light of recent contributions to the literature. I outline where patents can function effectively, where they can be damaging and where additional complementary mechanisms to spur innovation may be appropriate.
Notes: "November 2013"--Publisher's Web site.

Includes bibliographical references.