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Graham, Stuart J.H.; Sichelman, Ted --- "Patenting by High Technology Entrepreneurs" [2011] ELECD 433; in Ghosh, Shubha; Malloy, Paul Robin (eds), "Creativity, Law and Entrepreneurship" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Creativity, Law and Entrepreneurship

Editor(s): Ghosh, Shubha; Malloy, Paul Robin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848449879

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: Patenting by High Technology Entrepreneurs

Author(s): Graham, Stuart J.H.; Sichelman, Ted

Number of pages: 30

Extract:

9. Patenting by high technology
entrepreneurs
Stuart J.H. Graham and Ted Sichelman

INTRODUCTION: HOW ENTREPRENEURS USE
(AND ARE AFFECTED BY) THE PATENT SYSTEM

Entrepreneurs contribute significantly to economic growth in the US and
global economy.1 They create new organizations, products, services, jobs
and opportunities for complementary economic activities.2 Intellectual
property (IP) law is an important policy lever that affects not only the
opportunities for engaging in entrepreneurship, but also the success or
failure of many entrepreneurial efforts.3
Economic theory holds that investments in technology development
­ of which entrepreneurial activities are an integral part ­ will be subopti-
mal if too little intellectual property protection exists.4 However, because
entrepreneurial activity may be redirected or halted by intellectual prop-
erty rights claimed by others, an equally serious impediment to investment
for entrepreneurs may arise if IP protection is too strong or uncertain.5
Although a considerable body of previous work has explored the
relationship between IP rights and innovation, far less scholarship has
focused on the more particular relationship between IP rights and entre-
preneurship. The basic economic principle underlying IP rights is that the
process of developing innovative products and practices is an expensive,
time-consuming, labor-intensive and risky endeavor.6 Once these innova-
tions exist, however, they can be cheap and easy to copy.7 IP rights protect
innovators from copying by `free riders' and allow them to recoup the
investment incurred during the creation, development and commercializa-
tion process ­ either directly by manufacturing and ...