Once Bitten, Less Shy? – The Impact of Copying and Infringement Experiences on R&D Cooperation

Abstract:     
In this article, we investigate how a company’s experience with copying and infringement of intellectual property (IP) and IP rights (IPR) influences its decision to cooperate on R&D. We base our argument on literature that focuses on learning from success and failure, and we empirically test our hypotheses using data from the German Mannheim Innovation Panel (Community Innovation Survey). Until now, research has not focused on the effects that experience with the copying of a company’s non-protected IP and the infringement of its IPR (e.g., patents, trademarks, etc.) has on its tendency to cooperate in R&D.

We find that firms with experience regarding the copying of IP are less willing to engage in research collaboration, while in contrast, firms with experience regarding the infringement of IPR are more likely to cooperate on R&D.

We find that companies should strive for unambiguous IP(R) ownership and invest in drawing contracts that address these issues, especially if these companies want to cooperate with a partner who has experienced the copying of IP. Policy should pursue clear IP(R) ownership by providing reliable IPR regimes. Thus, we contribute to existing research by identifying a further driving factor and a new inhibiting factor for R&D cooperation.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 37

Keywords: copying, IPR infringement, R&D cooperation, learning from success and failure, propensity score analysis, structural equation modeling

JEL Classification: L29, O32, O34

working papers series