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Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research

Patent Boxes and the Relocation of Intellectual Property

This research project studies the international transfers of patent ownership with respect to patent box regimes. Patent box regimes are fiscal policies providing advantageous tax schemes for revenues derived from patent ownership, with the objective to stimulate R&D efforts. However, these fiscal regimes are heterogeneous across European countries. They are also permissive regarding the characteristics of intellectual property assets that are eligible for the tax rebate. Due to the intangible nature of patents, firms can take advantage of this lack of coordination generating fiscal competition between European countries, and strategically relocate their patents to shift income. This project was motivated by the conclusions of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Report, which identifies patent box regimes as harmful because they allow taxpayers to separate the country of location of R&D efforts and the country of patent location, i. e., the country of taxation of revenues derived from patent ownership.

Fields of Research