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Full-Text Articles in Law
When The Wto Works, And How It Fails, Anu Bradford
When The Wto Works, And How It Fails, Anu Bradford
Faculty Scholarship
This Article seeks to explain when an international legal framework like the WTO can facilitate international cooperation and when it fails to do so. Using an empirical inquiry into different agreements that the WTO has attempted to facilitate — specifically, intellectual property and antitrust regulation — it reveals more general principles about why the WTO can facilitate agreement in some situations and not in others. Comparing the successful conclusion of the TRIPS Agreement and the failed attempts to negotiate a WTO antitrust agreement indicates that international cooperation is likely to emerge when the interests of powerful states align and when …
Patents And Business Models For Software Firms, John R. Allison, Abe Dunn, Ronald J. Mann
Patents And Business Models For Software Firms, John R. Allison, Abe Dunn, Ronald J. Mann
Faculty Scholarship
We analyze the relation between patents and the different business models available to firms in the software industry. The paper builds on Cusumano's work defining the differences among firms that sell products, those that provide services, and the hybrid firms that fall between those polar categories. Combining data from five years of Software Magazine's Software 500 with data about the patenting practices of those software firms, we analyze the relation between the share of revenues derived from product sales and the firm's patenting practices. Accounting for size, R&D intensity, and sector-specific effects, the paper finds a robust positive correlation between …
Commercializing Open Source Software: Do Property Rights Still Matter?, Ronald J. Mann
Commercializing Open Source Software: Do Property Rights Still Matter?, Ronald J. Mann
Faculty Scholarship
For several years now, open source software products have been gaining prominence and market share. Yet the products themselves are not as provocative as the way in which they are developed and distributed. Two related features of the open source model are distinctive: the use of collaborative development structures that extend beyond the boundaries of a single firm, and the lack of reliance on intellectual property ("IP") rights as a means of appropriating the value of the underlying technologies. Firm-level control of intellectual property is replaced by a complex set of relations, both informal and sometimes contractual, among strategic partners …
Patents, Venture Capital, And Software Start-Ups, Ronald J. Mann, Thomas W. Sager
Patents, Venture Capital, And Software Start-Ups, Ronald J. Mann, Thomas W. Sager
Faculty Scholarship
This paper analyzes the relation between the patenting behavior of startup firms and the progress of those firms through the venture capital cycle. Linking data relating to venture capital financing of software startup firms with data concerning the patents obtained by those firms, we find significant and robust positive correlations between patenting and several variables measuring the firm's performance (including number of rounds, total investment, exit status, receipt of late stage financing, and longevity). The data also show that (1) only about one in four venture-backed software firms acquired even one patent during the period of the study; (2) patenting …