When an Importer's Protection of IPR Interacts with an Exporter's Level of Technology: Comparing the Impacts on the Exports of the North and South

Abstract

Using bilateral trade data of countries from 2000 to 2007, this paper contributes to the empirical literature on the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in global trade. The existing literature has focused on how IPRs in the destination country affect exports from a source country. In this paper, we add an additional dimension: the level of technology of the exporting country (LT). This is quite important for distinguishing the impact of IPRs on the exports of developed and developing countries, since the technology levels vary across countries at different stages of development and intellectual property rights better protect exports that are technologically advanced than exports that are imitative and potentially infringing. By factoring in the level of technology (LT), our empirical analysis makes the case that IPRs can act as a barrier to the exports from the South, especially the rapidly catching‐up economies, and thus be a source for the middle‐income trap phenomenon.

Sustainable Technology Innovation Path Recognition: An Evaluation of Patent Risk of International Trade

“…Schmiele (2013) analyzed determinants to investigate the probability of IP rights infringement for multinational corporations [22]. Shin et al (2016) analyzed the interactive relationship between the level of technology innovation and the degree of IP protection, and compared the bilateral effect presentations between the north and south of the world, from which the results indicated that the asymmetry of the IP systems would impede international trade [23]. Imitation and innovation in international trade present a situation which includes both opposition and coexistence.…”

“…However, not all enterprises determine how to make appropriate decisions when they meet patent risk. Many enterprises often face imitation [23], and lack the ability to transform imitation into innovation [24]. This challenge reflects that enterprises need management and compliance mechanisms to resolve patent risk problems.…”

“…Patentees and entrants are in a patent game to obtain the competitive advantage [20]. To maximize the interest of enterprises, entrants can choose between imitation and innovation [23]. The market itself also changes with technology development and the patent layout.…”

Intellectual property rights, imitation, and development. The effect on cross-border mergers and acquisitions

“…In the first place, both the threat of imitation and the development level of countries influence decisions of M&As in response to national differences in IPRs. The interaction between imitation abilities of target countries and technological content of sectors is heterogeneous, being more important for sectors of high-technology content (see: Shin et al 2016, for the case of trade). Moreover, the effect on developing countries is stronger compared to the effect on developed countries.…”

Does regulation drive international research cooperation? Evidence from the pharmaceutical sector

“…Concerns may arise about the endogeneity of the two IPR indices, as the level of IPR protection has been historically chosen by countries fostered by domestic innovators or when achieving a rather high level of development (Qian, ). However, in the case of TRIPS, Kyle and McGahan () argue that developing and least developed countries strengthen the level of IPR protection only because they expected large benefits from the membership in the WTO (see also Shin, Lee, & Park, ). Hamdan‐Livramento () also examines the TRIPS agreement and concludes that the implementation of the IP reform is an external factor which is not completely dependent on the level of economic development.…”