특허정책의 경제적 측면에 관한 연구

Recently, the importance of patent policy and strategy is increasing due to knowledge-economy, globalization, and rapid technological innovation. In Korea, however, the economic basis for clear concept, principles, and measures for patent policy is week. This paper examines the economic aspects of the patent policy. First of all, we define the patent policy as “the policy established and implemented by the government to design systems, laws and institutions to maximize the purpose of the patent system and to carry out a series of patent-related activities.” The paper distinguishes the patent policy from the intellectual property rights policy, the technological policy, and the industrial policy. As for the legitimacy of the patent policy, we analyze the patent market failure caused by externalities, public good, and uncertainties. As principles of establishing a patent policy to maximize social welfare, we propose nonabsolutism, antidiscrimination, learning, administrability, devolution, additionality, and simplicity. Based on the scope of patent policy, we classify various patent policy tools being presently implemented by the Korean government. However, since this study is a exploratory economic analysis of patent policy, the approach and contents of patent policy can be varied according to the research agenda and policy targets.