Strategic Reasons for Patenting:
Between Exclusion and Coordination Rationales

This contribution aims at analyzing the role of patents in inter-organization networks in the field of biotechnology. We examine the traditional rationale for firms to apply for a patent, which focuses on the protection against competition as the basic motive of application, and we claim that another, complementary motive should be explicitly taken into account: The role of patent as a negotiation and/or cooperation instrument. We illustrate our main propositions through the case study of an emergent network, namely the cluster of Upper-Rhine Biovalley. [JEL Classification: O340, O310, L000, L650]

* bureth@cournot.u-strasbg.fr
* levy@cournot.u-strasbg.fr
* penin@cournot.u-strasbg.fr
* wolff@cournot.u-strasbg.fr

This work is part of a wider project on DNA vaccine called MIDEV and financed by the CNRS - INSERM - MiRe - DREES in the frame of the program "Sciences biomédicales, santé et société". We are particularly grateful to the referees and editor of the journal for helpful comments.