Intellectual Property: When is it the Best Incentive System?
The objective of the report is to review what economists have said about incentive schemes to promote research and development, including intellectual property. While the authors focus on environments in which other forms of protection are not available, they also note that other protections can obviate the need for any formal reward system.
Link
http://www.dklevine.com/archive/scotchmer-when-is-ip-best.pdf