Intellectual Property and Innovation in the Digital Economy A Systematic Literature Review of Appropriation, Protection, and Value Creation

Abstract

Intellectual property (IP) has traditionally been understood as an institutional mechanism for protecting inventions, creative works, brands, designs, and commercially valuable knowledge. However, the rapid development of digital technologies, platform-based business models, artificial intelligence, data-driven innovation, and open innovation has transformed the strategic and economic significance of intellectual property. The relationship between innovation and intellectual property is consequently no longer adequately explained through the conventional assumption that stronger legal protection necessarily produces greater innovation. Instead, contemporary scholarship increasingly conceptualizes intellectual property as part of a broader system of appropriation, knowledge exchange, commercialization, collaboration, and value creation. This systematic literature review synthesizes research concerning the changing role of intellectual property in innovation and digital economic environments. The review organizes the literature around five interconnected themes: intellectual property as an appropriation mechanism; strategic selection of formal and informal protection mechanisms; intellectual property and open innovation; digital transformation and copyright; and intellectual property as a source of value creation and competitive advantage. The review further examines methodological and theoretical tendencies within the literature and identifies significant gaps concerning artificial intelligence, data ownership, platform ecosystems, algorithmic licensing, small and medium-sized enterprises, and the interaction between intellectual property protection and knowledge diffusion. The synthesis indicates that intellectual property produces different effects depending upon technological characteristics, industry structure, organizational capabilities, institutional environments, and innovation strategies. Rather than viewing IP protection as an isolated legal function, the literature increasingly supports an integrated perspective in which patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, licensing arrangements, and informal mechanisms operate as complementary elements within broader innovation strategies.