Welcome to WorldBank Group

About

Countries

Data & Research

Learning

News

Projects & Operations

Publications

Topics

Home > Data & Research > Research > Programs > Trade Research

Trademark protection or protectionism?

Author:	Baroncelli, Eugenia; Krivonos, Ekaterina; Olarreaga, Marcelo;	Collection Title:	Policy, Research working paper ; no. WPS 3214
Country:	World;	Date Stored:	2004/06/02
Document Date:	2004/02/01	Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English	Region:	The World Region
Report Number:	WPS3214	SubTopics:	Environmental Economics & Policies; Markets and Market Access; Economic Theory & Research; Health Monitoring & Evaluation; Public Health Promotion; Access to Markets
Volume No:	1 of 1

Summary: This paper explores the extent to which discrimination against foreign applicants in the trademark registration process can be used as a "behind-the-border" barrier to imports. Prima-facie evidence shows that in some developing countries the ratio of trademark registration to applications is much higher for national than for foreign applicants, which is consistent with the notion of discrimination against foreign firms. The authors develop a simple model that suggests that incentives to discriminate are stronger when foreign firms produce products that are close in quality to the product produced by domestic firms. This hypothesis is then tested and empirically confirmed in three of the four countries in their sample, suggesting that discretion and discrimination in the trademark registration process can sometimes be used as a protectionist tool.


Official Documents Official, scanned versions of documents (may include signatures, etc.)
File Type		Description	File Size (mb)

	PDF 30 pages	Official version*	2.1 (approx.)
	Text	Text version**


Light-Weight Documents Lighter (less MB) documents which may or may not be the final, official version
File Type		Description	File Size (mb)

	PDF 30 pages	WPS3214	0.27

* The official version is derived from scanning the final, paper copy of the document and is the official,
archived version including all signatures, charts, etc.

** The text version is the OCR text of the final scanned version and is not an accurate representation of the final text.
It is provided solely to benefit users with slow connectivity.

Permanent URL for this page: http://go.worldbank.org/INCJJ9ZWN0