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Proprietary versus public domain licensing of software and research products

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  • Gambardella, Alfonso
  • Hall, Bronwyn H.

Abstract

We study the production of knowledge when man), researchers or inventors are involved. in a setting where tensions can arise between individual public and private contributions. We first show that. without some kind of coordination. production of the public knowledge good (science or research software or database) is sub-optimal. Then we demonstrate that if 'lead' researchers are able to establish a norm of contribution to the public good, a better outcome can be achieved, and we show that the general public license (GPL) used in the provision of open source software is one such mechanism. Our results are then applied to the specific setting where the knowledge being produced is software or a database that will be used by academic researchers and possibly by private firms, using as an example a product familiar to economists. econometric software. We conclude by discussing some of the ways in which pricing can ameliorate the problem of providing these products to academic researchers. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.
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  • Gambardella, Alfonso & Hall, Bronwyn H., 2006. "Proprietary versus public domain licensing of software and research products," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 875-892, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:35:y:2006:i:6:p:875-892
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    1. Engelhardt, Sebastian v. & Freytag, Andreas, 2013. "Institutions, culture, and open source," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 90-110.
    2. Alexy, Oliver & Reitzig, Markus, 2013. "Private–collective innovation, competition, and firms’ counterintuitive appropriation strategies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 895-913.
    3. F. Rullani & L. Zirulia, 2011. "A supply side story for a threshold model: Endogenous growth of the free and open source community," Working Papers wp781, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    4. Massimo D'Antoni & Maria Alessandra Rossi, 2014. "Appropriability and Incentives with Complementary Innovations," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 103-124, March.
    5. Lichtenthaler, Ulrich, 2010. "Determinants of proactive and reactive technology licensing: A contingency perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 55-66, February.
    6. James Bessen & Alessandro Nuvolari, 2019. "Diffusing new technology without dissipating rents: some historical case studies of knowledge sharing," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(2), pages 365-388.
    7. Bronwyn Hall & Christian Helmers & Mark Rogers & Vania Sena, 2014. "The Choice between Formal and Informal Intellectual Property: A Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(2), pages 375-423, June.
    8. Powell, Walter W. & Giannella, Eric, 2010. "Collective Invention and Inventor Networks," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 575-605, Elsevier.
    9. Bronwyn H. Hall & Christian Helmers & Mark Rogers & Vania Sena, 2012. "The Choice between Formal and Informal Intellectual Property: A Literature Review," NBER Working Papers 17983, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Rullani, Francesco & Haefliger, Stefan, 2013. "The periphery on stage: The intra-organizational dynamics in online communities of creation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 941-953.
    11. Dequiedt, V. & Menière, Y. & Trommetter, M., 2007. "Collective management of intellectual property rights," Working Papers 200703, Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL).
    12. Knut Blind & Torben Schubert, 2024. "Estimating the GDP effect of Open Source Software and its complementarities with R&D and patents: evidence and policy implications," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 466-491, April.
    13. David P. Leech & John T. Scott, 2023. "Copyrights for the technology transfer of government software," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 2161-2178, December.
    14. J Bayoán Santiago Calderón & Carol Robbins & Ledia Guci & Gizem Korkmaz & Brandon L. Kramer, 2022. "Measuring the Cost of Open Source Software Innovation on GitHub," BEA Working Papers 0200, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    15. J. Gareth Polhill & Bruce Edmonds, 2007. "Open Access for Social Simulation," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 10(3), pages 1-10.
    16. Christian Peukert & Margaritha Windisch, 2023. "The Economics of Copyright in the Digital Age," CESifo Working Paper Series 10687, CESifo.
    17. Andrea Fosfuri & Marco S. Giarratana & Alessandra Luzzi, 2008. "The Penguin Has Entered the Building: The Commercialization of Open Source Software Products," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(2), pages 292-305, April.
    18. Matt Germonprez & Julie E. Kendall & Kenneth E. Kendall & Lars Mathiassen & Brett Young & Brian Warner, 2017. "A Theory of Responsive Design: A Field Study of Corporate Engagement with Open Source Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 64-83, March.
    19. Wen Wen & Chris Forman & Stuart J. H. Graham, 2013. "Research Note ---The Impact of Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement on Open Source Software Project Success," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1131-1146, December.
    20. Wen Wen & Marco Ceccagnoli & Chris Forman, 2013. "Patent Commons, Thickets, and Open Source Software Entry by Start-Up Firms," NBER Working Papers 19394, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Wen Wen & Marco Ceccagnoli & Chris Forman, 2012. "Patent Pools, Thickets, and Open Source Software Entry by Start-Up Firms," NBER Chapters, in: Standards, Patents and Innovations, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Korkmaz, Gizem & Santiago Calderón, J. Bayoán & Kramer, Brandon L. & Guci, Ledia & Robbins, Carol A., 2024. "From GitHub to GDP: A framework for measuring open source software innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    23. Landini, Fabio, 2012. "Technology, property rights and organizational diversity in the software industry," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 137-150.
    24. Arora, Ashish & Gambardella, Alfonso, 2010. "The Market for Technology," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 641-678, Elsevier.

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