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Relationship of Weak Modularity and Intellectual Property Rights for Software Products

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Decision Economics. Designs, Models, and Techniques for Boundedly Rational Decisions (DCAI 2018)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 805))

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Abstract

There are very few studies in the literature regarding the impact of modularity on intellectual property rights, which refer to modularity of underlying products to capture value within firms. This paper brings together theory of software modularity from computer science and Intellectual Property (IP) rights from management literature in order to address the question of value appropriation for IP rights within software products. It defines the term of intellectual property associated with software products or platforms as opposed to the term of intellectual property used within particular firms serving as a source of economic rent. It initially discusses the concepts behind usage of modularity as a means to protect IP rights and explain differences of organization and product modularity, while rendering calculation for probability of imitation for weak modular systems. It investigates threat of imitation; where the main contribution of this paper is to provide a systematic analysis of value appropriation in weak modular systems by introducing a relationship between probability of imitation and module interdependency.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Digital Lab, CGI Consulting, Stuttgart, Germany

    Stefan Kambiz Behfar

  2. Neurology Department, Cologne University, Cologne, Germany

    Qumars Behfar

Authors
  1. Stefan Kambiz Behfar
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  2. Qumars Behfar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefan Kambiz Behfar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophical, Pedagogical and Economic-Quantitative Sciences, Section of Economics and Quantitative Methods, University of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy

    Edgardo Bucciarelli

  2. AI-ECON Research Center - Department of Economics, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Shu-Heng Chen

  3. Departamento de Informática y Automática, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Juan Manuel Corchado

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Behfar, S.K., Behfar, Q. (2019). Relationship of Weak Modularity and Intellectual Property Rights for Software Products. In: Bucciarelli, E., Chen, SH., Corchado, J. (eds) Decision Economics. Designs, Models, and Techniques for Boundedly Rational Decisions. DCAI 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 805. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99698-1_19

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