Jason M. Brown (J.D. 2013, SMU), Student Article, Patent Box Taxation: A Comparison of Four Recent European Patent Box Tax Regimes and an Analytical Consideration of if and how the United States Should Implement its Own Patent Box, 46 Int'l Law. 913 (2012):

As the global economy is increasingly driven by the commercialization of highly mobile assets, several European governments have sought to encourage investment in and retention of such assets within their domestic borders by offering heavily incentivized tax rates on profits derived from patents and other highly mobile assets. Notable among the European and Asian countries to enact such patent-income tax incentives–colloquially known as patent box tax regimes–are Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. This paper addresses the primary distinguishing features of these four regimes, including their effective tax rates, their scope, and their general qualification requirements and further addresses the preliminary economic results of the enactment of these regimes. Finally, this paper considers the shortcomings in the four regimes and discusses how the United States can capitalize on such shortcomings to enact a more effective patent box tax regime.