Financing Technological Innovation: Evidence from Patent-Intensive Firms

ABSTRACT

Equityholders of firms with high debt loads have an incentive to underinvest, a distortion that can be most costly for firms with attractive growth options. Using a novel patent-based measure of a firm's growth options, we find that firms issue more equity and shy away from debt financing when they have larger investment opportunities sets. The results are more pronounced among firms in patent-intensive industries. The findings suggest the existence of conflicts of interest between debtholders and equityholders. Our results are consistent with the use of conservative debt policies by technology-intensive firms to mitigate the debt overhang associated with their future growth options.     

论药品专利和公共健康问题——以人权和“价值平衡”理论为视角

WTO建立的TRIPS协议将包括药品在内的一切发明都纳入可以给予专利保护的范围，这使发展中国家在解决本国因艾滋病、结核病和疟疾等传染病引起的公共健康问题时，和发达国家相关药品的专利保护之间产生冲突。从当前全球的公共健康现状出发，运用人权和“价值平衡”理论对此分析，可以得出这样的结论：作为基本人权，发展中国家人民的生命健康权应该优于知识产权加以保护。     

浅析我国国际贸易中专利权保护的问题及对策

本文从世界国际贸易中专利权保护的现状入手,通过分析我国国际贸易专利权保护中存在的问题,探讨我国国际贸易中专利权保护的有效对策。     

高管海外背景与企业专利国际化 ——基于P CT申请的经验证据

在当前我国PCT(《专利合作条约》)国际专利申请(以下简称PCT申请)快速增长的背景下,本文使用2009~2019年创业板企业的数据,实证分析了高管海外背景对企业专利国际化的影响效果。研究发现:高管海外背景会正向促进企业专利国际化,且当高管既有海外求学背景又有海外任职背景时促进作用最强;相较于非CEO高管海外背景,CEO海外背景更能促进企业专利国际化;从内部治理因素看,高管股票期权激励正向调节高管海外背景对企业专利国际化的促进作用;从外部治理因素看,在知识产权保护程度低的地区,高管海外背景对企业专利国际化的推动作用更明显。本文的研究拓宽了国际专利申请的影响因素以及高管海外背景领域的相关文献,对企业开拓国际市场实现专利国际化具有指导意义。     

农地征用补偿安置制度研究综述

本文在广泛查阅、研究了近十年来有关征地补偿安置制度这一热点专题的大量文献的基础上，梳理、比较、分析了各界专家学者在征地补偿基本理论、合理标准、改革思路等主要问题上的研究进展和不足，旨在服务于今后的理论研究和实践工作。     

The Impact of Patents on Innovation,Technology Transfer and Health: A Pre- and Post-TRIPs Analysis of India's Pharmaceutical Industry

The debate surrounding the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement indicates that patents matter for development. Yet literature on the geography of knowledge transfer shows that knowledge is spatially sticky, suggesting that the impact of patents can be exaggerated. Using interview evidence, this paper explores how Indian pharmaceutical firms have responded to changes in patent law, including the introduction of more extensive patent protection in 2005 as a condition of TRIPs. A regime of limited patent protection for over three decades prior to TRIPs facilitated informal knowledge transfer and the emergence of a pharmaceutical industry with significant domestic capabilities. Contrary to some expectations, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has continued to grow post-TRIPs, with large domestic firms becoming involved in more formal technology transfer as part of an increasingly collaborative relationship with multinationals. This trend is also driven by a focus on the markets of developed countries, raising questions for the future sustainability of India's low-priced medicines. While changes in patent law can facilitate or inhibit a variety of aspects of development, the adaptation of the Indian pharmaceutical industry suggests that their impact must be related to the broader institutional setting, particularly the underlying domestic capabilities.     

The impact of patent protection on US pharmaceutical exports to developing countries

This article provides evidence that patent protection can have a positive effect on trade, by analysing the impact of the implementation of intellectual property rights (IPR) in developing countries on the US exports of pharmaceutical products, following intense lobbying efforts from the US pharmaceutical industry to have the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement included in the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). A gravity model using panel data from 1995 to 2010 suggests that the implementation of minimum standards of patent protection has increased US exports of pharmaceuticals to 108 nonadvanced countries.     

龙头企业、专利投入与农业产业高质量发展研究

[目的]中共十九大报告提出实施乡村振兴战略,对中国粮食产业高质量发展和农业供给侧结构性改革有了进一步要求。小麦作为中国主要粮食作物之一,小麦产业是中国农业产业的代表性产业之一,其发展对中国粮食安全具有重要意义。以小麦产业为例,探究农业科技创新中龙头企业、专利投入与中国小麦产业发展的关系。[方法]文章基于2015—2018年的短面板数据,利用耦合协调度模型测算中国31省(市、自治区)的小麦产质量耦合协调度,解析中国小麦产业耦合协调发展的实际情况,并运用工具变量Tobit方法实证分析中国小麦产质量耦合协调度的影响因素。[结果]中国小麦产质量耦合协调度总体偏低。龙头企业数量、农业基础设施对小麦产质量耦合协调度产生显著的正向影响,地区小麦专利数量在龙头企业对小麦产业的影响中具有正向调节作用。[结论](1)中国小麦产质量耦合协调度总体上还处于较低水平;(2)在小麦产质量耦合协调度回归模型中,粮食播种面积是一个有效的工具变量,它在很大程度上决定了龙头企业选址;(3)小麦专利数量对小麦产质量耦合协调具有直接促进作用,但是这种作用不显著;(4)地区小麦专利的调节效应增强了龙头企业与小麦产质量耦合协调度的影响。     

对电子商务商业方法可专利性的法理学思考

电子商务商业方法的传统保护方式存在明显不足,各主要发达国家顺应实践发展需要,相继调整其专利政策将电子商务商业方法纳入专利保护领域。但是反对授予商业方法专利的观点依然颇多。电子商务商业方法是否具有可专利性在理论与实践的层面上都具有讨论价值。从总收益与总成本的比较看,发达国家授予商业方法专利是有效率的。但是在授予商业方法专利的同时,各国立法需要平衡各种利益,需要注重维护公有领域,以实现法律所追求的公平、正义价值目标。     

“AIDS is Not a Business”: A Study in Global Corporate Responsibility – Securing Access to Low-cost HIV Medications

At the end of the 1990s, Brazil was faced with a potentially explosive HIV/AIDS epidemic. Through an innovative and multifaceted campaign, and despite initial resistance from multinational pharmaceutical companies, the government of Brazil was able to negotiate price reductions for HIV medications and develop local production capacity, thereby averting a public health disaster. Using interview data and document analysis, the authors show that the exercise of corporate social responsibility can be viewed in practice as a dynamic negotiation and an interaction between multiple actors. Action undertaken in terms of voluntary CSR alone may be insufficient. This finding highlights the importance of a strong role for national governments and international organizations to pressure companies to perform better. William Flanagan is the Dean of Law at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. His research interests include international trade and investment, and corporate law and corporate governance. Gail Whiteman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Business and Society of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands.