Join patenting in R&D Alliances: Control rights & ressource attributes

Abstract

In this paper, an attempt is made to provide a clearer understanding of the motives that lead firms to share intellectual property rights in their innovative efforts, through joint patents in R&D alliances. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 116 biotechnology R&D alliances, and explain variation in joint patenting activities. Our results show that the characteristics of the resources held by the firms, and the ex-ante allocation of control rights, can influence joint patenting activity.