Modelling Economic Returns to Plant Variety Protection in the UK

• Main Author: Chittur Srinivasan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Firenze University Press 2012-06-01
• Series: Bio-based and Applied Economics
• Subjects: Intellectual property rights; plant variety protection; appropriability
• Online Access: https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/bae/article/view/3223

This paper attempts an empirical assessment of the incentive effects of plant variety protection regimes in the generation of crop variety innovations. A duration model of plant variety protection certificates is used to infer the private appropriability of returns from agricultural crop variety innovations in the UK over the period 1965-2000. The results suggest that plant variety protection provides only modest appropriability of returns to innovators of agricultural crop varieties. The val- ue distribution of plant variety protection certificates is highly skewed with a large proportion of innovations providing virtually no returns to innovators. Increasing competition from newer varieties appears to have accelerated the turnover of varie- ties reducing appropriability further. Plant variety protection emerges as a relatively weak instrument of protection.