TY  - JOUR
AU  - Maurer,Stephen M.
AU  - Scotchmer,Suzanne
TI  - Open Source Software: The New Intellectual Property Paradigm
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12148
PY  - 2006
Y2  - April 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12148
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12148.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Stephen Maurer

Suzanne Scotchmer
Department of Economics
Evans Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA  94720-3880
Tel: 510/643-8562
Fax: 510/643-9657
E-Mail: scotch@berkeley.edu
AB  - Open source methods for creating software rely on developers who voluntarily reveal code in the expectation that other developers will reciprocate. Open source incentives are distinct from earlier uses of intellectual property, leading to different types of inefficiencies and different biases in R&D investment. Open source style of software development remedies a defect of intellectual property protection, namely, that it does not generally require or encourage disclosure of source code. We review a considerable body of survey evidence and theory that seeks to explain why developers participate in open source collaborations instead of keeping their code proprietary, and evaluates the extent to which open source may improve welfare compared to proprietary development.
ER  -