Intellectual Property Rights and Endogenous Economic Growth – Uncovering the Main Gaps in the Research Agenda

Abstract

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are “the rights to use and sell knowledge and inventions” (Greenhalgh and Rogers, 2007: 541), with the aim of guaranteeing adequate returns for innovators and creators. There are different types of intellectual property protection (Granstrand, 2005): old types such as patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and design rights, and new forms such as breeding rights and database rights. Nonetheless, patents are commonly considered as the most important and representative IPR (e.g., Besen and Raskind, 1991).