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This dissertation research aims to illuminate the interdependence of inimitability, competitive landscape, and the factors that bind them. Specifically, this study examines the antecedents and effectiveness of investments in inimitability within a historical context of innovation and competition in a mature sector, the global tire industry. The findings here contribute to our understanding of the complexity of inimitability that works for competitive advantage in light of the dynamics of competition in an industry as the adoption of innovation and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection continues to change. The contribution of this dissertation is two-fold. First, this dissertation highlights the dynamic nature of resource inimitability and protection. Although it is conventionally assumed that firms have strong incentives to protect valuable innovations with weak inimitability, this study shows that weak inimitability of a key resource does not necessarily trigger protection from imitation. Moreover, the link between resource inimitability and imitation protection is not static. When imitating a key resource would destroy the imitator’s other valuable resources, the key resource stays inimitable, and the owner firm of the resource does not engage in active protection. The findings of this study deepen our understanding of why firms choose not to invest in imitation protection and the timing when firms finally decide to deter imitation. This research aims to shift the resource-based view (RBV) toward a more dynamic and practical setting in which firms can delay their investment in inimitability and alter their protection strategy according to a newly emerged competitive landscape. Second, this dissertation reveals the strategic choice of emerging economy firms between innovation and imitation beyond global agreements of IPR protection. Formal IPRs under global agreements are a policy linchpin of the new global knowledge economy. However, while some emerging economy firms have successfully transitioned from imitation to innovation, others persist in imitation, sometimes resulting in IPR violations. To understand the divergent behaviors, this study follows design innovation in the global tire industry, uncovering patterns of IPR violations after the establishment of a global IPR protection standard. The findings show that the presence of “keystone organizations” in a national industry ecosystem matters because these organizations enforce innovation in the ecosystem. This study thus emphasizes the importance of linkages to keystone organizations as crucial elements supporting operations that comply with global IPR regulations. Policymakers are recommended to devise policy instruments to facilitate the growth of keystone organizations and their close alliances with embedded actors to build a critical mass of innovation capability and IP stocks. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

This dissertation is comprised of four chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to economic growth and discusses the topics covered in each of the following chapters along with some main results therein. In Chapter 2, I develop a dynamic general equilibrium of innovation and imitation in which once a higher quality good is developed, there is an exogenously given rate at which the good is targeted for imitation. However, the innovator can undertake expenditure to protect the good from imitation and thereby lower the effective probability of imitation. It is shown that the total expenditure toward property right protection is inversely related to the cost of property right protection and the effectiveness of the property right system. Moreover, a subsidy that reduces the per unit cost of property right protection leads to an increase in the intensity of innovation. In the long run, the economy exhibits a constant steady state growth. I further show that an improvement in the efficiency of the property right system has an ambiguous effect on overall consumer welfare. Chapter 3 develops a two-good, closed economy model, that provides a possible explanation for the existence of misallocation of resources and examines the long-run consequences. In the model, inefficiencies arise as a result of lobbying by firms to establish or prevent barriers to the competitive allocation of factors of production (labor). First, I show that the extent of the inefficiency is determined by the relative lobbying power of the firms. The inefficiencies lead to a static welfare loss, which increase in the relative lobbying power of firms seeking to establish barriers. I further show that if the relative lobbying power of firms seeking the barriers is large, the economy will end up producing a ``wrong'' mix of goods in the long-run, relative to the perfectly competitive equilibrium. The resulting welfare loss depends on the elasticity of substitution between the two goods, and in the case when the two goods are poor substitutes, the total utility may go to zero in the long-run. In Chapter 4, I apply the model of lobbying developed in Chapter 3 to understand the link between misallocation of resources, international trade and economic growth. Misallocation leads to the possibility that the benchmark competitive free trade equilibrium is not achieved. This leads to a reduction in trade volume and consequently to welfare losses even for a country without domestic barriers. Further, domestic barriers cause a reduction in output growth in the short run. In the long run, however, there is a convergence to the competitive growth rates. / Ph. D.

This thesis explores the reform of intellectual property regulation policies with respect to computer software within two advanced industrial nations after 1980. A comparative case analysis of the United States and Japan will provide insight as to how advanced industrial nations have responded to market forces, competing private interests, and international pressure for policy harmonization in the construction and implementation of intellectual property regulation reforms. This study will show that ideological and structural arrangements of state institutions have influenced the extent of liberalization in intellectual property policy, and the preservation of equilibrium between individual rights and public interests in the establishment of intellectual property. / Master of Arts

Stock market event studies are often used to estimate the impact of an unanticipated event on stock returns of a company. Traditionally, these analyses focus on developing estimates of abnormal returns attributed to the event or some measure of post-event loss in shareholder value. In 1989 Mark Mitchell used an event study to estimate the impact of the 1982 Tylenol poisonings on Johnson & Johnson's share returns. Mark Mitchell was able to demonstrate that (1) Johnson & Johnson share returns were significantly impacted by the poisonings, and (2) such an impact translated, at least in part, to a depreciation of brand name capital. This study sets forth the basic framework of Mark Mitchell's 1989 analysis and wherever appropriate, provides possible alternatives to his methodologies. Using several alternative approaches including, but not necessarily limited to, consideration of the incremental values associated with the Tylenol brand name, cost to develop the brand, alternative market factors, and changes in income streams I compare changes in brand value to brand name capital depreciation estimated by Mitchell. In some instances the aforementioned approaches are used in conjunction with aspects of Mitchell's methodology. The results tend to provide more accurate estimates of the loss in brand value possibly associated with the 1982 poisonings. / Master of Arts

No / This paper will examine how intellectual property issues arise due to the influence of cultural origins and background in cross-border businesses. With this aim in mind, this study is contextualised within three inter-related research questions applying a case study strategy with 13 Chinese and US managers. First, the paper discusses what IP problems managers have encountered. Second, it focuses on why such problems have arisen, i.e. why these problems are related to culture. Finally, the paper synthesises how the interviewed managers endeavour to solve the identified problems. To conclude, the paper draws to the attention of international business managers and researchers the fact that culture should be taken into account when dealing with IP-related cross-border businesses.

Yes / We investigate the relationship between intellectual property rights (IPR) and innovation, for a panel of 48 countries between 1998-2011. Prior empirical studies mainly focus on strength of patent regulations largely ignoring the enforcement of such laws in practice. We employ a new index that accounts for the enforcement related component of the patent system and the Ginarte and Park (1997) index of patent regulatory strength. We thus include two crucial elements of a national patent system, the de jure position relating to book law and IPR regulations, and the de facto position relating to IPR enforcement. We consider nonlinearities between IPR and innovation, and we find that both nonlinearities and the enforcement aspect are significant in explaining the relationship between innovation and IPR systems.

<p>This thesis discussed the subjects of bioprospecting and the protection of traditional knowledge. At first the international approach to the subjects was elaborately discussed. The focus was on the respective provisions of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the related Bonn Guidelines, stressing the matter of access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization. Enclosed in this discussion was the examination of different legislatory approaches to tackle the subject with an emphasis on national intellectual property rights laws and the role and potential merit of national registers of and databases for specific traditional knowledge. The way national legislators have implemented the concerned obligations of the convention, and their peculiarities as for example the restriction of scope of law to indigenous biological resources, was exemplified with the respective Bolivian, South African as well as Indian laws.</p>

Novelty is a widespread notion that has not been given commensurate critical attention. This research is an ethnographically-inclined exploration of practices surrounding the accomplishment of novelty in an institution for which novelty is a central notion: the patent system of the United Kingdom. The research is based on interviews with patent examiners at the UK patent office, interviews with patent attorneys at various legal firms, and documentary analysis of legislation and numerous legal judgments. The thesis brings to bear themes from Science and Technology Studies and ethnomethodology to assess the extent to which they can account for the practices surrounding novelty in the UK patent system. As a fundamental legal requirement for the patentability of inventions, novelty is a central part of the practices of patent composition, assessment and contestation. Rather than being a straightforward technical criterion, however, novelty is shown to be a complex and heterogeneous phenomenon emerging from interwoven legal, bureaucratic and individual practices. The local resolution of whether or not a given invention is new, and the cross-institutional coherence of novelty as a practicable notion, raise questions concerning ontology, accountability, scale and inconcludability, and provide an opportunity for empirically grounded engagement with these longstanding analytical concerns.

在網絡上，資訊技術及其使用改革了版權作品的使用方式。因特網根本性改變了版權市場。本文試圖論證，中國內地法律必須給予資訊技術足夠的發展空間，同時不能不合理地損害版權所有人的利益。 / 本文認爲，在中國版權立法和適用中，版權功利主義理論起著根本性作用。根據功利主義，版權法的目標是促使社會文明的最大化發展。而且中國政府必須發展數字經濟，且須保證其版權法合理地促使網絡中間商運行和投資中國數字經濟。中國版權法需爲資訊技術提供足夠的發展空間。 / 基於為資訊技術發展尋求足夠發展空間的目的，本文分析了Sony案抗辯，通知－删除避風港，誘導侵權和合理使用。中國必須合理解釋中國現有制度，從而避免給網絡中間商加以不合理的責任。關於版權侵權抗辯，中國應該引入美國的 Sony抗辯，作為衡量是否侵犯版權的一個因素。且避風港保護的範圍應該被擴展至包含所有網路中間商，以保證未來技術的未知發展擁有足夠的呼吸空間。而且，至少，中國應該採用某些善意轉換性使用的窮盡式合理使用抗辯，以促進現有技術的運行。且更合適的是，採用非窮盡式的合理使用抗辯，其範圍包括所有對社會有用的網路中間服務的必須運營活動，並通過確保資訊技術發展的方式。 / 一個好的法律框架可以對人類的進步有著積極的影響，不然它會對社會發展起著阻礙作用。我們需要的法律框架應該同時促進版權和信息傳播技術的發展。這意味著，在保證版權産業正常運行的同時，該法律框架應爲技術發展提供肥沃的成長土壤。 / Information technology and its usage on the internet have revolutionized the way in which various copyrighted works are captured, stored, copied and distributed. By expanding the breadth, diversity and sheer number of copyrighted works in existence, the internet has fundamentally changed the nature of copyright markets. / This thesis attempts to argue that the laws in Mainland China should reserve enough space for information technologies to develop, without unreasonably prejudicing the interests of copyright holders. / This thesis contends that the utilitarian justification for copyright plays an underlying role in both Chinese copyright legislation and judicial application. Under the utilitarian model in China, fostering a maximization of culture development is the aim of the copyright law. As such, in the era of information overload, the Chinese government should aim to develop the Digital Economy. In order to achieve this aim, it needs to start by ensuring that its copyright law appropriately enables Internet Intermediaries to operate and to invest in creating Chinese Digital Economy. Copyright law in China needs to create room to move. / This thesis examines Sony defense, notice-and-take-down safe harbors, inducement liability and fair use, for the purpose of seeking enough space for information technology development. The existing rules in China, e.g. inducement liability, should be interpreted as avoiding placing unreasonable burden on internet intermediaries. As to the defenses against copyright infringement, Sony defense in the US should be introduced as a factor in assessing copyright infringement in China. And the scope of safe harbor protection should be extended to include all internet intermediaries, for the purpose of providing breathing room for unanticipated technology developments. Moreover, at the very least, certain fair dealing exceptions for certain transformative use in good faith should be adopted in China to foster the existing operations of information technology. And it is more desirable to introduce a non-exhaustive fair dealing exception to cover activities necessary to run all socially useful internet intermeiary services, in the way of ensuring information technology development. / A well-designed legal system should have positive impacts on the human progress; or otherwise, it would have deterrence effects on the social development. A legal system which promotes both copyright and communication technologies creations is what we need in the future. This kind of system requires a fertile land for technologies innovation without destroying the developments of the entertainment industries / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Xie, Lin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Thesis Argument --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Background --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Summary --- p.6 / Chapter 2 --- Theoretical Framework in China --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Justifications for Copyright --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Traditional Chinese Culture --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Development of Modern Copyright Law in China --- p.21 / Chapter 2.4 --- International Relationship --- p.27 / Chapter 2.5 --- Utilitarian Justification in Digital Era in China --- p.31 / Chapter 3 --- Aggressive Measures on the Unauthorized File-sharing Problem --- p.36 / Chapter 3.1 --- Criminal Liability of Internet users --- p.36 / Chapter 3.2 --- Benefits and Costs --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3 --- Graduated Response Scheme --- p.52 / Chapter 3.4 --- The Nature of Unauthorized Online File-sharing Problem --- p.59 / Chapter 3.5 --- Alternative Solutions --- p.65 / Chapter 3.6 --- Implications for China --- p.68 / Chapter 4 --- Sony Defense under Traditional Indirect Liabilities --- p.71 / Chapter 4.1 --- Traditional Liabilities for Third Parties’ Infringement --- p.72 / Chapter 4.2 --- Sony Defense --- p.82 / Chapter 4.3 --- Assessing Sony Defense --- p.98 / Chapter 5 --- The Notice-and-Take-Down Safe Harbors of Online Service Providers --- p.102 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction on the Notice-and-Take-Down Safe Harbors --- p.102 / Chapter 5.2 --- Threshold Requirements of the Notice-and-Take-Down Safe Harbors --- p.108 / Chapter 5.3 --- A Proposed Safe Harbor Framework in China --- p.142 / Chapter 6 --- Inducement Liability of Service Providers --- p.145 / Chapter 6.1 --- Inducement Liability in China --- p.145 / Chapter 6.2 --- Inducement Liability in the US --- p.151 / Chapter 6.3 --- Implications for China --- p.170 / Chapter 7 --- Transformative Use of Copyrighted Works: A Proposed Fair Dealing Exception for Internet Intermediaries --- p.176 / Chapter 7.1 --- Introduction --- p.176 / Chapter 7.2 --- Transformative Use in the US --- p.178 / Chapter 7.3 --- Transformative Use under Australian and Chinese Copyright Law --- p.188 / Chapter 7.4 --- A Proposed Fair Dealing Exception --- p.198 / Chapter 7.5 --- Conclusion --- p.201 / Chapter 8 --- Liabilities of a Search Engine’s Cache --- p.202 / Chapter 8.1 --- Introduction --- p.202 / Chapter 8.2 --- Liabilities of a Search Engine’s Cache in China --- p.208 / Chapter 8.3 --- Direct Infringement --- p.215 / Chapter 8.4 --- The Safe Harbor Protection --- p.223 / Chapter 8.5 --- Implied License --- p.236 / Chapter 8.6 --- Fair Use --- p.242 / Chapter 9 --- Fair Use or Fair Dealing? --- p.246 / Chapter 9.1 --- Introduction --- p.246 / Chapter 9.2 --- Fair Dealing in China --- p.248 / Chapter 9.2 --- Introduce a Flexible Exception into Copyright in China --- p.263 / Chapter 10 --- Conclusion --- p.272