Coopetition: the Role of IPRs

Abstract

More and more typically, collaboration between competitors (hence: coopetition) is the way of creating innovation, and doing business at large, in a contemporary economic scenario which
increasingly requires that both R&D and production of goods and services be based on multiple technological contributions.
Coopetition is an expression of contractual freedom, a functional profile of the "freedom to conduct business", which translates into the right to choose if, when, how, and with whom to cooperate for entrepreneurial purposes and projects.
Coopetition is built on a delicate, often fragile, balance of two opposite logics of interaction: the competitive paradigm driven by conflicting interests, which ‘under the surface’ nurture opportunistic, when not ‘hostile’ behavioral temptations, and the collaborative paradigm driven by common interests in a certain area.

Keywords: Coopetition, Intellectual property rights, freedom of business

JEL Classification: K21