Intellectual Property Rights in the Era of Open Innovation: A Systematic Review of Knowledge Sharing, Collaboration, and Competitive Advantage

Abstract

The increasing importance of knowledge-intensive competition has transformed intellectual property rights from predominantly legal instruments into strategic organizational resources. At the same time, the emergence of open innovation has challenged the traditional assumption that firms create, control, and commercialize knowledge primarily within organizational boundaries. Organizations increasingly collaborate with universities, suppliers, customers, start-ups, competitors, research institutions, and technology platforms to access external knowledge and accelerate innovation. This development creates a fundamental strategic tension: firms must simultaneously protect valuable knowledge and facilitate knowledge exchange. The present study systematically reviews the literature examining the relationship between intellectual property rights and open innovation. The review synthesizes research concerning patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, licensing, collaborative innovation, knowledge sharing, technology transfer, and competitive advantage. The findings indicate that intellectual property rights perform a dual function in open innovation environments. They can restrict unauthorized appropriation and protect investments in knowledge creation while also facilitating knowledge exchange by defining ownership, licensing conditions, and commercialization rights. The review further demonstrates that the effectiveness of intellectual property strategies depends upon organizational capabilities, industry characteristics, technological complexity, institutional quality, and the structure of innovation networks. The literature suggests that excessive protection may inhibit knowledge diffusion, whereas insufficient protection may discourage investment and collaboration. Consequently, optimal intellectual property management involves balancing protection and openness rather than maximizing either objective independently. The review identifies significant research gaps concerning intellectual property governance in platform ecosystems, artificial intelligence, collaborative patents, small and medium-sized enterprises, university-industry partnerships, and emerging forms of digital knowledge. The article develops an integrated conceptual framework linking intellectual property strategy, openness, knowledge exchange, innovation capability, and competitive advantage and proposes directions for future empirical research.