企业专利质量综合指数研究*--以创业板上市公司为例

随着国内企业专利“数量大、质量差”的问题越来越严重,企业专利质量的评价已成为研究热点,而对专利质量的评价关键在于衡量指标和评价体系的确立,目前专利质量衡量指标虽然繁多,但缺乏综合的评价指数。本文分析了现存专利质量指标的优缺点,筛选出最能反映专利新颖性、创造性和实用性的多个指标,并使用主成分分析法来确定各指标权重,从而构建企业专利质量综合指数;最后以355家创业板上市公司为例对企业专利质量综合指数进行初步应用。     

科学引文对企业专利质量的影响——以纳米材料产业为例

以2 332项纳米材料产业美国专利数据为样本,采用负二项回归模型,检验科学引文对专利质量的影响。研究发现,专利科学引文的数量和质量对专利质量有显著正向影响,科学引文的时滞对专利质量有显著负向影响。研究结果揭示了纳米领域重大技术发明与科学发现息息相关,纳米技术开发绩效的提升,有赖于前沿科学和技术的紧密结合。     

专利资助、专利质量与企业绩效——基于生命周期理论的视角

从企业生命周期视角出发,引入专利质量,细化技术质量与经济质量平衡的质量导向,考察专利资助政策对企业绩效的影响机理.对我国2014-2018年237家上市企业面板数据实证研究发现:首先,专利资助对企业绩效有显著积极影响,技术质量与经济质量在专利资助与企业绩效间起部分中介作用,且经济质量中介作用高于技术质量;其次,技术质量在企业成长期与成熟期均起中介作用,在衰退期不起中介作用;最后,经济质量仅在企业成长期起中介作用,在企业成熟期与衰退期均不起中介作用.基于以上结论,对进一步推动企业专利质量提升提出建议:专利资助政策聚焦到专利质量的各个维度而不是单一指标,对专利技术质量和经济质量按1∶1.3～1∶1.4比例进行资助,并区分企业发展阶段有针对性地予以资助.     

专利保护与企业绩效关系研究

分析了专利保护与企业绩效之间的关系,指出了以往研究中存在的缺陷和不足,并将专利的战略功能引入了考察专利保护与企业绩效关系的视野,剖析了专利对企业的价值,认为专利保护行为对企业绩效有滞后的正向影响,且存在行业和企业规模差异。     

专利质量对企业绩效的影响:盈利能力和技术创新类型的作用

提升专利质量是当前新经济形势下的迫切任务,专利质量与企业绩效的关系长期以来受到学者和业界的关注。本文基于201家信息技术行业企业2014—2020年数据,检验了专利质量对企业绩效的影响。研究结果表明,专利被引次数、维持超6年的专利数量和权利要求数量都对企业绩效产生正向作用。盈利能力在专利被引次数与企业绩效、维持超6年的专利数量与企业绩效关系间起到了中介作用。相较于不连续创新,连续性创新正向调节了专利被引次数、权利要求数量与企业绩效间的关系。本文研究结论对于促进企业专利质量的绩效转化具有积极的意义。     

专利质量对企业绩效的影响研究——技术创新类型的调节作用

专利质量与企业绩效的关系长期受到学者和业界的关注,但研究结论并不一致。本文收集信息技术硬件行业179家企业2014-2018年的面板数据,采用分层回归与分组回归的方法,探讨了包括技术、法律和经济三个不同维度下专利质量与企业绩效之间的关系及其作用机理。实证发现:专利被引次数、权利要求数量均对企业绩效有显著的促进作用,并且专利被引次数的促进作用更强;维持超6年的专利数量与企业绩效的关系不显著;相较于不连续性创新,连续性创新正向调节了专利被引次数与企业绩效、权利要求数量与企业绩效的关系,并且属于同质调节变量。本文拓展了技术创新管理领域的相关研究,研究结论对促进企业专利质量的绩效转化及技术创新类型的选择有指导价值。     

基于创业板上市动机的专利质量研究

[目的/意义]创新性是创业板企业的根本属性之一,专利能够较好地向外界传递企业创新情报信号。研究上市前发行人专利申请行为对提升专利质量和完善创业板专利披露制度具有较大的现实意义。[方法/过程]使用合享价值度作为专利质量的代理变量,运用OLS回归方法,以我国创业板2009-2018年间上市公司专利数据为样本,对创业板上市前的专利质量进行分组实证检验。[结果/结论]研究表明,创业板企业上市前专利质量明显下降,在没有产业政策支持、市场化程度较低以及同年上市公司数量较少情况下,专利质量降低幅度更为显著。     

渠道关系质量对出口绩效的影响实证研究——以中国工业企业为例

以重庆、北京、天津的工业企业为分析样本,利用结构方程模型对生产企业与中间商之间的关系质量对出口绩效产生的影响进行了实证研究。     

Citations backward and forward: Insights into the patent examiner's role

Examiners’ instructions and academic studies on patent validity determination focus on identification of “blocking” citations that invalidate claims in applications as non-novel or obvious, generally ignoring the non-blocking majority as irrelevant to validity. Recently available datasets allow us to identify, for the first time, “forward” citations received by applications before grant, as well as “backward” citations in those applications, and distinguish those identified by the examiner as blocking (submitted mainly by examiners), as well as non-blocking examiner and applicant citations. Categorical analysis confirms that blocking citations in an application strongly negatively predict its grant, but positively predict grant of the cited blocking applications. Non-blocking applicant and examiner citations in an application equally strongly predict its grant, but do not predict grant of cited applications. We test whether expected value – measured by applicant forward citations to the application prior to its grant – affects probability of grant, with negative results. These findings expand our understanding of the scope of examiners’ and applicants’ roles as mediators of validity-relevant information in applications.     

When is an invention really radical?: Defining and measuring technological radicalness

We develop a valid definition of technological radicalness which states that a successful radical invention is: (1) novel; (2) unique; and (3) has an impact on future technology. The first two criteria allow us to identify potentially radical inventions ex ante market introduction; adding the third condition, we can ex post determine if an invention served as an important change agent. Empirically testable condition selected 6 of 581 tennis racket patents granted between 1971 and 2001. Two of the identified patents - the oversized and the wide-body rackets - are considered radical inventions by industry experts. Applying our definition and operationalization would allow researchers to achieve greater generalizability across studies, avoid endogenous definitions of radicalness, and study predictors of market success for radical inventions.     

Do ‘liberal market economies’ really innovate more radically than ‘coordinated market economies’?: Hall and Soskice reconsidered

In Varieties of Capitalism; The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Peter A. Hall and David Soskice (H&S) argue that technological specialization patterns are largely determined by the prevailing “variety of capitalism”. They hypothesize that “liberal market economies” (LMEs) specialize in radical innovation, while “coordinated market economies” (CMEs) focus more on incremental innovation. Mark Zachary Taylor [Taylor, M.Z., 2004. Empirical evidence against varieties of capitalism's theory of technological innovation. International Organization 58, 601-631.] convincingly argued that Hall and Soskice's empirical test is fundamentally flawed and proposed a more appropriate test of their conjecture. He rejected the varieties of capitalism explanation of innovation patterns. We extend and refine Taylor's analysis, using a broader set of radicality indicators and making industry-level comparisons. Our results indicate that Hall and Soskice's conjecture cannot be upheld as a general rule, but that it survives closer scrutiny for a substantial number of industries and an important dimension of radicality.     

What determines technological hits?: Geography versus firm competencies

The centrality of firms vis-à-vis regions underlines a general contrast between two models of producing innovations. This paper uses a new database composed of 4262 European chemical patents applied by 693 firms during 1987–1996 to compare the relative effect of firm and regional characteristics on the production of technological “hits” (highly cited patents). By using extensive controls, the main finding of the paper is that technological hits in the “traditional” chemical sectors are explained only by R&D intensity at the firm level and the scale of the research projects. Firm competencies, particularly technological specialisation, are still important in biotechnology. However, the distinct feature of the biotechnology model is that localised knowledge spillovers also matter.     

Bridging distant technological domains: A longitudinal study of the determinants of breadth of innovation diffusion

The diffusion of innovations is identified as an important aspect of technological and social change. Innovations diffuse through segmented networks of knowledge that limit the flow of knowledge from any one technological domain to any other. Despite this segmentation, some organizations are capable of developing pieces of knowledge that overcome these limitations. Within this context, we develop four hypotheses regarding specific R&D strategies that affect a firm’s ability to develop inventions that diffuse beyond the firm’s technological boundaries. Specifically, we examine how a firm's scientific intensity, technological collaborations, technological diversity, and internal focus impact breadth of innovation diffusion. We use two of the main determinants of innovation diffusion, namely, the relative advantage and the observability, as theoretical mechanisms to build our arguments. We empirically test our hypotheses on longitudinal data from the industries of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and chemicals. Our findings show that the extent to which the knowledge embedded in a firm’s inventions diffuses in distant technological areas is positively related to the firm’s scientific intensity and to its extent of collaboration, but it is negatively related to its technological diversity.     

Mapping the importance of the real world: The validity of connectivity analysis of patent citations networks

Recent empirical findings have questioned the use of patent citations as a measure. This points to the need of validation of patent citations methodologies, which we address by testing a recent methodology for studying technological evolution, namely connectivity analysis of citation networks. We find connectivity analysis to be a valid tool to identify the reliable knowledge which opens the way to further technological evolution of a surgical prosthesis, the artificial spinal disc. We also illustrate how connectivity analysis represents how this reliable knowledge differs depending on the stage of technological evolution. The corroborated validity of connectivity analysis of patent citations may trigger a renaissance in the use of this kind of patent data.     

Entry and competitive dynamics in the mobile telecommunications market

We propose an extension of the Gans-Stern [Gans, J.S., Stern, S., 2003. The product market and the market for “ideas”: commercialization strategies for technology entrepreneurs. Research Policy 32 (2), 333-350] framework that includes entry by existing firms. An incumbent firm possessing complementary assets and strong appropriability is in a formidable position [Teece, D.J., 1986. Profiting from technological innovation: implications for integration, collaboration, licensing, and public policy. Research Policy 15 (6), 285-305]. However, a de alio entrant can leverage complementary assets to enter along a new technological trajectory, and then develop appropriability. We illustrate how several mobile telecommunications firms (Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung) pursued this strategy to catch up with the market leader (Motorola). We also identify several shortcomings in Motorola's approach: it was too inward-looking in developing technologies, but ironically not inward-looking enough in exploiting its most valuable patents.     

Examination incentives,learning, and patent office outcomes: The use of examiner’s amendments at the USPTO

We investigate how U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent examiner experience and seniority-based incentives affect the innovation ecosystem. First, we show that examiners respond to production incentives and demonstrate learning by increasing the use of examiner’s amendments in both experience and seniority, a mechanism not previously studied. Second, this examination procedure directly benefits innovators and firms by significantly reducing prosecution processing time without impacting patent quality. Finally, after considering examiner’s amendments, the negative relationship between examiner characteristics and patent examination quality found in the previous literature does not persist at first action, a decision point that allows for the clear measurement of examiner behavior. Our results demonstrate a need for reformulated policy recommendations related to the structure of examination at the USPTO.     

First-mover advantage and the private value of public science

Technical progress increasingly relies on the use of scientific knowledge. But if much of this knowledge is in the public domain, can it be a source of private value? We find that average private returns to using public science are small, especially in crowded technical fields. This is consistent with the view that the expected profit from an input that competitors can easily access is low. However, private value is higher when a firm is the first to use science, partly because it can secure broader patents relative to later users. Corporate participation in scientific research is a strong predictor of first use, consistent with the view that participation in science raises familiarity with relevant scientific advances.     

Patent claims and patent scope

Patent scope is one of the important aspects in the debates over “patent quality.” The purported decrease in patent quality over the last decade or two has supposedly led to granting patents of increased breadth, decreased clarity, and questionable validity (in part due to over-breadth). Such patents allegedly diminish the incentives for innovation due to increased transaction costs in the market for technology, more frequent disputes and litigation, trolling behavior, and breakdowns in bargaining. This paper focuses on the patent examination process at the PTO, highlighting the relationship between patent scope and the patent examination process. We develop and validate two measurements of patent scope: independent claim length and independent claim count. These metrics—in contrast to other measurements of patent scope—can be calculated before and after examination and enable us to provide the first large-scale analysis of trends in patent scope changes during the examination process. Our results show that applications with narrower scope are associated with a higher probability of grant and a shorter and less intense examination period in comparison to applications with broader scope. Further, we find that the examination process itself tends to narrow the scope of patents relative to the scope at filing, and that the changes are more significant when the duration and intensity of examination is increased. We explain our metrics and make our data available in a public use dataset, which we hope will encourage more research in the evaluation of patent scope, patent examination, and patent quality more broadly.