Cross-border intellectual property rights enforcement and international technology transfer (England)

This dissertation addresses current topics on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) across national borders. It also discusses how economic growth via international technology transfer is influenced by foreign patenting and IPR protection.; The first chapter analyzes factors affecting the decision to take enforcement actions against alleged IPR violations abroad that result in the export of infringed goods back into the innovating country. The enforcement mechanism studied is that of investigations afforded by the United States International Trade Commission. Using a large sample of countries in an industry-specific model along with a set of institutional, political, and economic controls, we find evidence that investigations are more frequent in industries that face intense import competition among IPR-protected goods. In addition, greater access to U.S. technology by firms in foreign countries is found to increase case filings. Finally, various factors that influence the extent of violations subsequently affect the use of investigations; these factors include the level of corruption, the level of patent protection and domestic enforcement, and the implementation of the Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS).; The second chapter studies the effect of market competition and foreign penetration within the United Kingdom on the extent of IPR court litigation under the U.K. legal system. A large sample of legal proceedings is collected over a period of 20 years and analyzed with industry-specific and country-level economic data. We find that court litigation is more common for industries that face heavy foreign penetration via foreign direct investment and that have foreign affiliates of trans-national corporations.; Tying the effect of IPR protection and enforcement to economic growth, a final chapter explores how IPR protection influences technology transfer by way of foreign patenting, which ultimately affects total factor productivity (TFP) at the country level. This cross-country analysis of both developed and developing countries finds that TFP growth is significantly influenced by costly knowledge spillovers, implying that technology transfer is not automatic, but rather a result of a country's effort.; To conclude, the literature has been relatively sparse in the study of cross-border enforcement of intellectual property rights and its corresponding effects on technology transfer and economic growth. This dissertation contributes to this literature with three distinct empirical essays that attempt to address a number of contemporary concerns.