Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(619)
- Faculty Publications (127)
- January 2011 (Revised January 2011)
- Case
Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (Abridged)
By: Anita Elberse
The management team of Marvel Enterprises, known for its universe of superhero characters that includes Spider-Man, the Hulk, and X-Men, must reevaluate its marketing strategy. In June 2004, only six years after the company emerged from bankruptcy, Marvel has amassed a... View Details
- January 2011
- Teaching Note
The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear? (TN)
By: Tom Nicholas
Teaching Note for 808118. View Details
- January 2011
- Article
Does Intellectual Property Rights Reform Spur Industrial Development?
By: Lee G. Branstetter, Ray Fisman, C. Fritz Foley and Kamal Saggi
An extensive theoretical literature generates ambiguous predictions concerning the effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) reform on industrial development. The impact depends on whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) expand production in reforming countries... View Details
- December 2010 (Revised March 2015)
- Case
The Wright Brothers and Their Flying Machines
By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen
Wilbur (1867-1912) and Orville (1871-1948) Wright were fascinated by the mystery of flight and they built on the ideas of prominent earlier figures such as Octave Chanute (1832-1910) the French-born American who was influential in fostering the free exchange of ideas... View Details
- October 2010 (Revised May 2012)
- Background Note
Reverse Engineering, Learning, and Innovation
By: Willy C. Shih
This background reading looks at reverse engineering in the context of piracy and knock-offs in emerging markets like China. It first considers legal aspects of reverse engineering in strong property rights regimes like the United States as a way of unpacking the legal... View Details
- September 2010 (Revised July 2013)
- Case
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals: Building Value from the IP Estate
By: Willy C. Shih and Sen Chai
The learning objective of this case is to help students recognize the interplay between intellectual property (IP) rights and corporate strategy. We do this by examining what is a fairly atypical circumstance today in which a single firm is able to secure what it... View Details
- July 2010 (Revised March 2011)
- Case
A&M/Octone Records: All Rights or Nothing?
By: Anita Elberse, Elie Ofek and Caren Kelleher
In April 2008, after successfully transitioning Octone Records to Universal Music Group and relaunching the label as A&M/Octone Records, president and CEO James Diener is facing a new challenge. Diener and his executive team have trouble convincing a new, promising... View Details
- March 2010 (Revised January 2011)
- Case
Carrot or Stick? Getting Paid for Innovation at Tessera Technologies
By: Willy C. Shih
Tessera Technologies has been very successful developing technologies for the semiconductor and mobile device industry, and then licensing them broadly to manufacturers. In addition to licensing patents, it also supplies know-how to help manufacturers move into... View Details
- March 2010 (Revised January 2012)
- Case
Microsoft's IP Ventures
By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon
Microsoft's IP Ventures program, through which Microsoft spun out promising but unused technologies into new companies, is a new approach to corporate venture capital. The program provides "IP for equity" and has proven very successful in achieving its main... View Details
- 2010
- Article
Has the Shift to Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Promoted Technology Transfer, FDI, and Industrial Development?
By: Lee Branstetter, C. Fritz Foley and Kamal Saggi
This article reviews recent research conducted by the authors that finds that intellectual property rights reform increases technology transfers, foreign direct investment inflows, and industrial development. It also places the findings of this work in the broader... View Details
- 2009
- Working Paper
Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Eric von Hippel
In this paper we assess the economic viability of innovation by producers relative to two increasingly important alternative models: innovations by single user individuals or firms, and open collaborative innovation projects. We analyze the design costs and... View Details
- September 2009 (Revised February 2011)
- Case
Intellectual Ventures
By: Andrei Hagiu, David B. Yoffie and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
Intellectual Ventures creates and acquires intellectual property, which it then seeks to monetize through non-exclusive licensing. In early 2009, as an increasing number of companies were trying to position themselves as leading intermediaries in the market for... View Details
- May 2009
- Article
The Empirical Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on Innovation: Puzzles and Clues
By: Josh Lerner
Economists have long seen the patent system as a crucial lever through which policymakers affect the speed and nature of innovation in the economy. It is not surprising, then, that the profound changes which have roiled the global patent system over the past 20 years... View Details
- February 2009 (Revised October 2012)
- Case
Tata Motors in Singur: Public Purpose and Private Property (B)
By: Laura Alfaro, Lakshmi Iyer and Namrata Arora
In October 2008, Tata Motors canceled their car manufacturing plant in West Bengal state, in the face of widespread farmer protests over land acquisition issues. This meant abandoning a project in which the company had invested $300 million and delaying the launch of... View Details
- December 2008 (Revised October 2012)
- Case
Special Economic Zones in India: Public Purpose and Private Property (A)
By: Laura Alfaro and Lakshmi Iyer
In 2005, the government of India enacted the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act in order to attract investment, generate export revenues, and create manufacturing jobs. However, several planned projects faced difficulties in acquiring land for setting up the SEZ. In... View Details
- Article
Czech Mate: Expropriation and Investor Protection in a Converging World
By: Mihir A. Desai and Alberto Moel
This paper examines the expropriation of a foreign investor by a local partner and the subsequent resolution of that case through international arbitration in favor of the investor. Despite the investor's 99% interest in joint venture, the local partner managed to... View Details
- February 2008
- Article
Attracting Skeptical Buyers: Negotiating for Intellectual Property Rights
By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao
Expropriable disclosures of knowledge to prospective buyers may be necessary to facilitate the sale of intellectual property (IP). In principle, confidentiality agreements can protect disclosures by granting the seller rights to sue for unauthorized use. In practice,... View Details
- February 2008 (Revised May 2011)
- Case
The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear?
By: Tom Nicholas and Andrew Ferguson
Explores the reason why Charles Goodyear, inventor of rubber vulcanization, was unable to profit from his discovery despite securing international property rights over his invention through a patent in 1844. Considers the utility of patents as an incentive for... View Details