Thesis (M. Com.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-104). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Software plays an important role in making products usable. We couldn’t imagine a laptop without software that run it making the things it does possible with the laptop hardware. Software has penetrated into several industries making significant contribution in how the products are designed and to make them more usable. This thesis focuses on semiconductor industry and analyzes the role played by software to enhance their products and differentiate them from competition. In this context, the thesis looks at acquisition of software companies by chip companies and analyzes them to determine the benefits and how it changed the market space. In a semiconductor company, the focus is predominantly on hardware. Although software is equally crucial to the success of the product, not much focus is placed on it in terms of innovation and building sustained software IP portfolio. One of the questions that this thesis tries to answer is how to build a robust software IP portfolio in a chip company. Case studies of different products were conducted to analyze their IP building strategies in general and focusing specifically on software patenting in terms number of patents filed and procedures adopted to encourage it. It looks closely at the best and not-so-best practices adopted by the teams and analyzing them to determine why certain initiatives succeeded while others failed. A crucial aspect of building software IP pipeline is to involve junior level engineers in this process. The thesis looks at some of the strategies companies could use to bring the culture of patents to the lowest levels of engineers. Typically the senior engineers are well tuned in to the process and regularly file patents while the junior engineers don’t. This is crucial to the company since today’s junior engineer is tomorrow’s senior engineer leading technology initiatives. The thesis concludes by putting forward recommendations to encourage software patenting. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

No description available.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The telemetry industry is entering a new era in which the technology employed and standards adopted may be covered by United States patents. This paper provides an overview to aid in understanding the characteristics of patents. Topics discussed are: What a patent is and isn't, scope of claim coverage of patents, determining infringement, designing around patents, and issues with standards covered by patents.

Research has demonstrated that the effects of intellectual property right (IPR) protection on firm research and competitive strategies are varied. This dissertation quantifies the dynamic effects of IPR protection along different dimensions. First, I show that countries choose different levels of IPR protection and develop a model to replicate these differences. This model enables me to assess the quantitative effects of trade, as well as the welfare impacts of global harmonization to a single IPR standard. Second, I explore whether IPR protection in the US is too strong. I develop a model in which firms make production and innovation decisions conditional on endogenous technological spillovers. I fit the model to key moments from US data and show that weakening patent protection is welfare decreasing. Thirdly, I show that changing US IPR standards during the 1980s had little real effect on the US Semiconductor industry vis-a-vis exogenous changes in market demand. / text

No description available.

The present research extends the existing literature in at least three aspects. Firstly, it looks at what makes firms perceive patents as more or less important. Secondly, it examines how patents do (if at all) interact with other appropriability mechanisms. Finally, it looks at how firms act with respect to why, where, what and when to patent. The manufacturing industry is still the major source of patent applications. Thus, a firm-level study in manufacturing was chosen. The adopted methodology consists of i) a series of interviews with decision-makers on patents in six pharmaceuticals firms, using a semi-structured questionnaire, and ii) two postal surveys of firms in UK manufacturing, conducted through structured questionnaires. One survey, also known as the Community Innovation Survey, was undertaken by the UK Office for National Statistics on behalf of the UK Department of Trade industry. Another survey, encompassing particular aspects of patenting activities, was administered by the researcher to firms listed in the UK R&D Scoreboard. Contrary to our suspicions patent numbers may be a good proxy for evaluating the importance of patents as a mechanism of protection, but not necessarily for measuring the level of innovativeness of a firm. Secondly, our findings suggest that some mechanisms of appropriability are more correlated to patents than others but, overall, they lead to the same sort of conclusions. Finally, we found that i) firms seek patents mainly as a protective device against copying; ii) patents tend to be filed early in the innovation process when the prospects may still be uncertain; iii) in general broader patent scope is sought but a narrow scope can also be valuable; and iv) the attractiveness of the market is central when firms decide to pursue cross-border proprietary control of the knowledge they create.

LL.M. (Commercial Law) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Project (M.P.P.) - Simon Fraser University, 2006. / Theses (Master of Public Policy Program) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.