Trademarks, patents and the appropriation strategies of incumbents: the scope of new firm formation in European regions

We examine the role of knowledge spillovers in fostering regional new firm formation in 230 NACE-4 manufacturing industries and 980 NUTS-3 regions in Europe. We find that regionally embedded knowledge stocks represented by patents have a positive association with new firm formation, but that knowledge protection and appropriation strategies of incumbents discourage such new firm entries. Knowledge stocks represented by trademarks only translate into higher entry rates in the absence of a pronounced appropriation strategy of incumbent firms or when entrants do not directly compete with the trademarking incumbents. Our findings highlight the two-sided effects of trademarks as an indicator of product novelties as well as a potential expression of strengthened incumbent appropriation strategies. ispartof: Regional Studies vol:56 issue:2 pages:1-17 status: Published online