Re: IP law and society (was "protecting inventions")

Harold Federow <hfederow[_at_]u.washington.edu> wrote:
>
> Well, I can't cite you to the research. But, last Winter I went to
> an MIT Enterprise Forum on finding investors, both VC and "wealthy
> individual" type investors held here in Seattle. IP Protection was
> very high on the list of things mentioned as important by the speakers,
> who were both investors and entrepreneurs who had gone through the
> process.
>
> Based on this anecdotal evidence from people who do it, I'd say IP
> protection is very important to securing investment capital.
>

The best research on this subject remains Levin, Klevorick, Nelson & Winter, Appropriating the Returns from Industrial Research and Development, 3 Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 783 (I think) (1987). The study finds that patents are generally not very important to corporations in deciding whether and how to invest in R&D, except in chemical process and pharmaceutical industries. Unfortunately, the study was directed at established (and mostly industrial) companies, not new ventures. Nonetheless, I think it is required reading on this issue.

Mark Lemley
Assistant Professor, University of Texas School of Law Of Counsel, Fish & Richardson, P.C.
mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu

You can find a list of my articles and books, and information on how to obtain them, at http://www.law.utexas.edu/lemley/pubs.htm

For information on the Intellectual Property program at UT, see http://www.utexas.edu/law/intelprop/ Received on Mon Jun 16 1997 - 18:07:35 GMT