To read this content please select one of the options below:

Chapter 5 Beyond patents: The role of copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets in technology commercialization

Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results

ISBN: 978-0-7623-1481-2, eISBN: 978-1-84950-532-1

Publication date: 26 February 2008

Abstract

This chapter suggests that, while researchers and teachers of university technology transfer often think exclusively in terms of patents and the Bayh-Dole Act, we ought to adopt a more nuanced view of intellectual property rights (IPRs). In the text, I discuss the primary non-patent types of intellectual property (IP) protection, copyright, trademark, and trade secret, and argue that while patents are normally the “default” position when we think about protecting technologies and profiting from them, evidence suggests that patents are among the least important means of capturing value from innovation. Moreover, I suggest that while many consider that IP protections act as substitutes for one another, thinking about IPRs as complements is a more relevant approach to this issue. Adopting this more nuanced view better reflects reality and does a superior job of alerting our audiences to the opportunities available in the technology commercialization process.

Citation

Graham, S.J.H. (2008), "Chapter 5 Beyond patents: The role of copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets in technology commercialization", Libecap, G.D. and Thursby, M.C. (Ed.) Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 149-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-4736(07)00005-7

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited