R&D cooperation and the joint exploitation of R&D

Is R&D cooperation preferred to non-cooperative R&D, and does the answer depend on how firms choose output? And if anti-trust protection is provided to R&D, is it desirable to extend anti-trust protection to cooperative production as well? In our model, cooperative R&D is always preferred by both firms and consumers, regardless of how output is chosen. We then show that though innovation effort and profits are higher when both output and R&D effort are chosen cooperatively, consumer surplus and overall social welfare are higher when cooperation is restricted to R&D.