Pests, Plagues, and Patents

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Abstract
This paper investigates a particular aspect of the biotechnology industry, namely the interaction between,dynamic ,forms ,of incentive ,mechanisms ,for biotechnological innovations ,(patent systems) and dynamic ,forms ,of biological ,problems ,(adaptations of pests ,and pathogens). Starting from the observation that - in contrast to technologicalproblems,in other sectors – many important biological problems are recurrent, we show that the design of the incentive mechanism must take into consideration: a) the need for investments into biotechnologicalR&D that take into account the impermanence ,of the ,solution concepts in this industry; and b) the impact of this impermanence,on the anticipated lifespan of any patent awarded,to a biotechnologicalinnovator. The results indicate that the current practice of rewarding ,biotechnological innovations ,under a non-specific patent system will not provide the correct incentives for the biotechnology,industry to optimally manage,recurrent biological problems.

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