An analysis published by the US Patent and Trademark Office shows that in response to software piracy, major publishers have increased their spending on R&D and their filing of trademarks, copyrights and patents.
A sudden increase in software piracy, driven by the arrival of BitTorrent in the early 2000s, has led major publishers to increase their spending on R&D, copyrights and copyrights and, in so doing, to strengthen their innovation. This is the conclusion of an article published in August by the USPTO
, the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The objective of the analysis carried out was to gather information on the strategic responses provided by companies facing a shock in the field of their intellectual property. In this case, the distribution of copies or imitations of their products, such as the introduction of generic drugs in the pharmaceutical field, or the circulation of pirated versions of digital products such as music, films or software.In the article, Wendy Bradley, professor at SMU Cox School of Business in Dallas, and Julian Kolev, economist, took the example of the dissemination, from 2001, of the BT communication protocol used for sharing information. P2P (peer-to-peer) files on the Internet to study the impact of piracy on the intellectual property management strategies of affected publishers.
In particular, the study shows that, on average, large software publishers were fairly quick to respond to the changes brought about by piracy in the management of their intellectual property, in particular those who already had active patent filing practices. Some results of the study must be interpreted with caution, however, point out W. Bradley and J. Kolev, in particular in the long-term analysis of the effects of piracy as the number of companies observed is reduced due to mergers, acquisitions or closures.
In recent years, partly in response to piracy, publishers have embraced the subscription model, the study authors point out. Given the constant threat posed by piracy, new strategies may be necessary to capture the returns on innovation. The results of the study suggest that obtaining different forms of intellectual property from different horizons could generate synergies. “The companies in our sample show a sharp increase in innovative activity following the piracy shock, but they have also changed their intellectual property strategy to apply it to a more diversified portfolio through an increase in copyright deposits. and trademarks ”, mentions in particular the article.
