ABSTRACT
The origins of the chapters which make up this book are as follows. For some time, concern had been expressed by a number of UK policy-makers that little empirical work had been done into how business used the intellectual property system, and especially of its relevance to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The ‘intellectual property system’ for these purposes principally consists of patents, trademarks, copyrights and designs, and confidential information. Which, if any, of these rights will be of interest to a particular SME will depend on the sector in which it operates? The Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRG) held a one-day workshop for invited academics and practitioners hosted by the UK Patent Office in Newport, to explore what might be done in this area. As a result of that, the ESRC, supported by the Intellectual Property Institute and the Patent Office, decided to fund a research programme the ‘Intellectual Property Initiative’. Tenders were invited, and 11 projects were selected for funding. These involved a wide range of social science disciplines. The present volume is based on the research outputs from eight of these projects. Although some of the findings confirm what specialists in the field had already suspected, having empirical confirmation for informed guesses and anecdotal evidence is proving to be of great value to policy-makers.
