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Protecting Innovation Through Patents and Trade Secrets: Evidence for Firms with a Single Innovation

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  • Crass, Dirk
  • Valero, Francisco Garcia
  • Pitton, Francesco
  • Rammer, Christian
Abstract
This paper analyzes the use and effectiveness of patents and trade secrets designed to protect innovation. While previous studies have usually considered patents and trade secrets as substitutes for one another, we investigate to what extent and in what situations the two protection methods are used jointly. We identify protection strategies for single innovation firms and hence overcome the assignment problem of existing empirical studies, that is, whether firms using both protection methods do so for the same innovation or for different innovations. Employing firm panel data from Germany, we find fairly few differences between the determinants for choosing secrecy and patenting. Single innovators that combine both strategies, 39% of the group, tend to aim at a higher level of innovation and act in a more uncertain technological environment. Firms combining both protection methods yield significantly higher sales with new-to-market innovations, providing some evidence for a complementarity of the two protection methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Crass, Dirk & Valero, Francisco Garcia & Pitton, Francesco & Rammer, Christian, 2019. "Protecting Innovation Through Patents and Trade Secrets: Evidence for Firms with a Single Innovation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(1), pages 117-156.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:225073
    DOI: 10.1080/13571516.2019.1553291
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    2. Bernhard Ganglmair & Imke Reimers, 2019. "Visibility of Technology and Cumulative Innovation: Evidence from Trade Secrets Laws," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2019_119v1, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. Dimitris Tsintsaris & Milan Tsompanoglou & Evangelos Ioannidis, 2024. "Dynamics of Social Influence and Knowledge in Networks: Sociophysics Models and Applications in Social Trading, Behavioral Finance and Business," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-27, April.
    4. Banholzer, Nicolas & Behrens, Vanessa & Feuerriegel, Stefan & Heinrich, Sebastian & Rammer, Christian & Schmoch, Ulrich & Seliger, Florian & Wörter, Martin, 2019. "Knowledge spillovers from product and process inventions in patents and their impact on firm performance. End report," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 222367.
    5. William Akoto, 2024. "Who spies on whom? Unravelling the puzzle of state-sponsored cyber economic espionage," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(1), pages 59-71, January.
    6. Yasmine Eissa & Chahir Zaki, 2023. "On GVC and innovation: the moderating role of policy," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(1), pages 49-71, March.
    7. Telg, Nina & Lokshin, Boris & Letterie, Wilko, 2023. "How formal and informal intellectual property protection matters for firms' decision to engage in coopetition: The role of environmental dynamism and competition intensity," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    8. Bian, Bo & Meier, Jean-Marie & Xu, Ting, 2021. "Cross-Border Institutions and the Globalization of Innovation," LawFin Working Paper Series 23, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
    9. Ganglmair, Bernhard & Robinson, W. Keith & Seeligson, Michael, 2022. "The rise of process claims: Evidence from a century of U.S. patents," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-011, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Fernando Almeida, 2021. "Systematic Review On Academic Entrepreneurship Indicators," Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Economics, SOUTH-WEST UNIVERSITY "NEOFIT RILSKI", BLAGOEVGRAD, vol. 9(2), pages 7-22.
    11. Li Zhang & Xiaoguang Shan, 2023. "The use of intellectual property right bundles and firm performance in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Milani, Sahar & Neumann, Rebecca, 2022. "R&D, patents, and financing constraints of the top global innovative firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 546-567.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Patents; trade secrets; single innovation; innovation output;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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