Chapter 18
Economic Analysis of Nonpatent Intellectual Property Rights and Damages Measures
18.1 Introduction
Property means a tangible or intangible resource to which an owner has legal title.1 Property rights refer to the capacity of people or firms to own, buy, sell, and use property in a market economy.2 Readers familiar with these terms in the context of physical property or financial capital often do not understand the rights of authors or inventors, how the law protects these rights, and the proper compensation if an abuser infringes these rights. Chapter 19 discusses these issues for patents; this chapter focuses on these issues and other considerations as they relate to nonpatent intellectual property.
Section 18.2 introduces the three forms of nonpatent intellectual property rights (copyrights, trademarks with associated protection against false advertising, and trade secrets) and discusses each form's economic characteristics. Section 18.3 analyzes damages measurement issues unique to intellectual property. Section 18.4 explains how nonpatent intellectual property differs from patent intellectual property. Sections 18.5, 18.6, and 18.7 discuss various issues specific to copyrights, trademarks and false advertising, and trade secrets, respectively.
18.2 Main Forms of Nonpatent Intellectual Property Rights
The three main types of nonpatent intellectual property rights are copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. This section discusses ...
