A Patent on Innovation: the Case of Sydney’s Digital Start-ups

Abstract

Ever since laws were formed to protect intellectual property, disputes have raged over their impact. The rapid onslaught of “patent wars”, where companies turn to intellectual property litigation as a means to attack rivals, has alarmed many. One side is accused of stealing knowledge and undermining creativity. The other is accused of using litigation to monopolise and constrain innovation. This research examines this new frontier of competition in the controversial landscape of intellectual property management, by bridging several topics to answer the question: how have small business start-ups managed to prosper in an industry dominated by the threats and constraints imposed by intellectual property litigation?

This thesis challenges traditional means of intellectual property protection. It uses an inductive theory building approach to propose that the growth is derived from embedded competitive advantages that cannot be easily imitated, and that the threat of litigation is conspicuous by its absence in the case of business start-ups within Sydney’s ICT sector. A broader examination of the impact intellectual property rights has on innovation and how firms use patents as tool for competing is discussed. This thesis also identified a gap in literature where no author has combined the fields of intellectual property management, small businesses and the ICT sector, and concludes with a new model representing a business’s evolution for managing its intellectual property.