Innovation patterns and intellectual property in SMEs of a developing country

based on empirical results, this article reopens the discussion about the relationship between intellectual property and innovation in developing countries. intellectual property grants a monopoly over the commercial exploitation of innovations. ex ante, this monopoly may promote innovation but ex post it may become a disincentive to diffusion and subsequent innovation. after reviewing the terms of the debate in the classical and current literature, we address two empirical issues: what patterns of intellectual property behavior coexist among the small and medium enterprises (smes) of a developing country (colombia) and how these patterns relate to the innovation performance of these firms.