Different paths of appropriation - patent strategies and licensing practices for closed and open innovation

摘要

As the competitive environment has become more knowledge-based and as technological complexity and convergence have increased, companies' innovation processes have gone through changes. It could be said that there has been a paradigm shift from closed innovation, where control over resources is paramount, towards a more open model. At the same time, the importance of intellectual property rights (IPRs) as a means to appropriate returns on R&D investments has increased and firms have begun to pay more attention to managing their IPRs. In this study, we examine the relationship between innovation models and patent strategies and licensing practices of eight information and communications technology (ICT) companies interviewed in 2004. We find that companies with different attitudes toward innovation also follow different paths in their strive towards appropriation and benefiting from innovation. The common denominator is that IPRs are only useful when they are in line with the business strategy.