What determines patent value?: Insights from the semiconductor industry

This paper contributes to an understanding which impacts certain patent characteristics have on the value of patent rights. In an exploratory study, 127 individual patents from a semiconductor company were evaluated comprehensively by technical and marketing representatives. The analysis of this rare data shows that for patents used as “bargaining chips”, novelty and inventive activity are most important. Difficulty of inventing around and disclosure turn out to be of limited importance. Due to a selection bias the influence of patent age on its value cannot be determined. The results hint at a differentiated theoretical plausibility of value indicators.     

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.     

The private value of software patents

We investigate the value creation or destruction associated with the introduction of software patents in the United States in two ways. The first looks at the cumulative abnormal returns to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firms around the time of important court decisions that impacted software patents, and the second analyzes the relationship between firms’ stock market value, the sector in which they operate, and their holdings of software patents. We conclude that the market evaluated software patents as a negative development ex ante. Ex post, a greater number of firms in all ICT sectors invested in these patents, and these firms had slightly higher market values than those with no software patents. However, while we obtain clear evidence that the technological importance or quality of patented innovation mattered for the market value of hardware firms both before and after the legal changes, it is less clear that the marginal patent right per se was associated with increases in market value, and there are no significant valuation effects associated with patents for pure software firms after the change.     

Structural modeling of the value of patent

There is a considerable volume of prior research on the relationship between innovation and patents. Those research studies reveal that patents contain a great deal of noise, and unless a correction is made in terms of the value of individual patents, a simple count of the number of patents does not constitute a very useful indicator. From research that has been conducted for the purpose of finding such an indicator to show the value of individual patents (that is, research to identify the characteristics of valuable patents), many kinds of value indicators have been proposed. Nevertheless, research hitherto has focused primarily on business or private value derived from the possession of patents, and little attention has been paid to value in terms of technical knowledge or social value. In a survey of inventors conducted by RIETI in 2007, terminology describing broad concepts was used when questioning inventors about the value of individual patents, and this has provided an excellent opportunity to analyze the multiple factors lying behind the value of patents and how they impact one another.The purpose of this research is to use data from the RIETI survey of inventors and structural equation modeling methods to elucidate the relationships between the technological and business value of patents, and the latent factors that influence them. The findings show that a scientific-technological motive for inventors would have a positive effect on both the business and technological value, meanwhile, the monetary or promotion motive would not have any direct effects on the value of a patent. The model also suggests that academic linkage would have a strong positive effect on the technological value but a weak negative effect on the business value. Furthermore, these relationships differ more markedly according to technological field.     

基于质量评价模型的专利质押价值评估体系修正研究

近年来专利权质押贷款业务量迅猛增长,商业银行在此类业务中需要解决的一大棘手问题就是如何筛选出优质专利来作为质押标的。本文以质押专利的质量内涵为切入点,构建包含法律维度、技术维度、企业维度的质量评价体系,并运用支持向量机算法来提升评价效率。同时,引入情景分析法得到质押专利的双情景估值,运用质量评价结果对评估价值进行修正。最后,选取案例企业RX公司的芯片专利作为研究案例,运用评估模型对芯片专利的质押价值进行评估,验证了该模型在质押专利价值评估中的适用性,为专利权质押价值评估提供了新思路。     

Discovering the influences of the patent innovations on the stock market

With the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, increasing technical innovations are patented by the individuals or the companies. As a form of intellectual properties, the patent has attracted attention from individuals and companies. Although there are some researches on the economic function of patent, few quantitative researches discuss on whether patents can work on the company stock market. To discover the relations between the company patents and the stock market, we explore a method to analyze the influence of patent activity on the company stock market. We collect the patent data and the stock data of listed companies, from which patent and market activities are extracted. By the recursive discrete wavelet transform, the patent and market activities are decomposed into multi-scale wavelets. These wavelets are fed into a patent and market activity based stock market trend prediction model, in which the influences of patent activity are analyzed. We compare our model with the state-of-the-art model on 4 measurements for 3 manufacturing datasets. The experimental results show that the patent activities have positive effect on market trend prediction in about 30% manufacturing listed companies and that the measurements of Shanghai/Shenzhen Stock Exchange often outperform that of USA in years 2016–2019 for the manufacturing listed companies.     

专利组合对上海制造业上市公司企业价值的影响

专利数量和结构是表征企业乃至国家创新能力的重要指标。而近年来,国内出现了低质量专利泛滥的现象,企业迫切需要明确的专利组合战略,以有效提升企业的价值。本研究通过收集2012-2016年上海地区制造业上市公司的专利拥有量,并选取托宾Q系数作为企业价值衡量指标,分析专利组合对制造业上市公司价值的影响。结果表明：第一,专利数量可有效提升企业价值,如果组合中发明专利的比例足够大,则提升组合中专利的数量可显著提升企业的价值;第二,不同创新程度的专利对企业的价值影响不同,创新度高的发明专利对企业价值的提升效果更为显著。本研究为企业制订合理的专利组合战略、提升企业价值提供了理论依据,并为政府制订差异化的专利申请资助政策提供参考。     

企业专利申请类型的影响因素探析——来自中国工业企业的实证研究

基于中国工业企业微观数据考察了企业专利申请类型的选择,在此基础上构建bi-probit模型,深入分析规模、产业竞争及研发投入对企业专利申请类型的影响,研究发现,企业规模和产业集中度促进了企业的发明专利和实用新型专利申请,且对发明专利的影响更大;研发强度促进发明专利的申请,但与实用新型专利申请负相关。在此基础上提出企业专利战略选择和我国专利制度改革的政策建议。     

Academic versus industry patenting: An in-depth analysis of what determines patent value

This paper compares corporate and academic patents and tests whether they have similar value distributions and share common determinants of value. The empirical results based on an in-depth analysis of 400 biotech patents applied for by Belgian universities and firms lead to the following observations: (i) academic and corporate patent value distributions have similar levels of ‘skewness’; (ii) the identification of the institutional origin of knowledge allows for an improved understanding of the value determinants and (iii) there is a need to stimulate star scientists to codify their tacit knowledge into valuable patents.     

Citations, family size, opposition and the value of patent rights

We combine estimates of the value of patent rights from a survey of patent-holders with a set of indicator variables in order to model the value of patents. Our results suggest that the number of references to the patent literature as well as the citations a patent receives are positively related to its value. References to the non-patent literature are informative about the value of pharmaceutical and chemical patents, but not in other technical fields. Patents which are upheld in opposition and annulment procedures and patents representing large international patent families are particularly valuable.     

我国个人专利维持之谜——市场摩擦的证据

专利市场是经济活动中效率最为低下的市场之一。一方面,专利属于无形资产,很难评判其价值。另一方面,由于信息不对称,市场参与双方（发明人和使用者）均面临很大的搜寻和交易成本。然而较少有文献实证记录这些市场摩擦所带来的后果。本文记录中国个人专利申请的一个特别现象：与企业专利相比,个人专利被广泛认为质量较差;然而另一方面,个人专利在授权后的维持时间却长于企业专利。本文认为专利市场摩擦可以一定程度上解释该现象：由于搜索成本和信息不对称,相对于企业来说,个人发明人需要更长时间才能将其专利许可或转让给可以商业化的公司。个人发明人往往需要这些转让收益来收回发明的投资成本,为此他们会努力寻求潜在的授予方,而不得不维持专利到更长的时间。 本文提供一些实证证据来支持这个假说。在专利质量比较过程中,本文基于中国国家知识产权局的数据库,整理并建立了中国专利申请的详细数据并构建了若干质量指标。同时,作者利用谷歌专利数据库补充了专利权利要求项数量和专利引证这两个指标,为中国专利质量分析、知识传递与溢出提供了重要的数据来源。     

专利价值二元分类评估方法的构建及应用研究

本文基于专利资产的价值分布特性,通过分析比较国内外专利价值评估的关键指标和专利价值的影响因素,构建了用于专利价值的“二元分类评估方法”。该方法采取定量指标评价和专家打分的主客观相结合方式分别得到专利定量指标价值度和定性指标价值度,两者结合得到专利综合价值度,这可综合评估专利价值高低,进而为知识产权管理和专利运营提供参考。     

The value of U.S. patents by owner and patent characteristics

This paper uses renewal data to estimate the value of U.S. patents, controlling for patent and owner characteristics. Estimates of U.S. patent value are substantially larger than estimates for European patents, however, the ratio of U.S. patent value to R&D for firms is only about 3%. Contrary to a common assertion, patents issued to small patentees are much less valuable than those issued to large corporations. Litigated patents are more valuable, as are highly cited patents. However, patent citations explain little variance in value, suggesting limits to their use as a measure of patent quality.     

基于无效程序的ICT领域专利质量影响因素研究

专利无效程序对于控制专利质量具有重要作用。以2008-2017年期间信息通信技术（ICT）领域被提起无效宣告请求的专利为样本,在根据专利有效性进行分组的基础上,分析“维持有效”和“宣告无效”两组专利在6项指标及在无效程序中援引法条的差异。结果显示：技术覆盖范围和引证专利数与专利质量显著负相关,非专利文献引用数与专利质量正相关;专利质量还与技术可专利性及专利文件的撰写和修改具有重要关系,专利可能会因为专利申请和修改过程中的程序和实体等基本问题被宣告无效。因此,评价专利质量时不仅应当重视技术和经济指标,还应对专利申请、授权、无效审查过程中可能涉及的相关因素进行综合考察,特别是专利无效审查时可能涉及到的专利文献内容等。     

基于专利计量的区块链技术发展现状及关键技术分析

以智慧芽专利数据库收录的区块链专利文献为数据源,运用专利计量法从时间、地域、专利权人多个维度进行专利数据分析,揭示区块链技术发展趋势,挖掘典型机构和高价值专利,利用UCINET软件分析关键技术,并对中国区块链技术的发展概况进行分析.研究发现:区块链技术正处于快速发展期,中美两国是领跑者;保密或安全通信装置、支付体系机构、方案或协议等技术领域已成为区块链的热点技术,底层技术逐渐受到重视;中国区块链产业主要集中在广东、北京等发达省份,虽然在全球具有规模优势,但是专利质量相较美国仍有一定差距,未来可能会面临"卡脖子"风险.最后根据研究结果,提出要从政府层面做好区块链产业技术的顶层设计,从产业层面加速区块链与其他产业的融合发展,从区域层面支持基础好的地区开展示范应用,从企业层面鼓励加大研发投入、打造拳头产品.     

Cluster-based patent retrieval

Through the recent NTCIR workshops, patent retrieval casts many challenging issues to information retrieval community. Unlike newspaper articles, patent documents are very long and well structured. These characteristics raise the necessity to reassess existing retrieval techniques that have been mainly developed for structure-less and short documents such as newspapers. This study investigates cluster-based retrieval in the context of invalidity search task of patent retrieval. Cluster-based retrieval assumes that clusters would provide additional evidence to match user’s information need. Thus far, cluster-based retrieval approaches have relied on automatically-created clusters. Fortunately, all patents have manually-assigned cluster information, international patent classification codes. International patent classification is a standard taxonomy for classifying patents, and has currently about 69,000 nodes which are organized into a five-level hierarchical system. Thus, patent documents could provide the best test bed to develop and evaluate cluster-based retrieval techniques. Experiments using the NTCIR-4 patent collection showed that the cluster-based language model could be helpful to improving the cluster-less baseline language model.     

Using patent citation patterns to infer innovation market competition

We propose an empirical strategy to estimate competition in innovation markets. Our method relates firms’ market return on equity to information about patent citation patterns. Two innovations are implemented in the methodology. First is the application of daily abnormal stock returns rather than annual measures of Tobin's q. Second is the creation of citation patterns related to the area of science a firm patents in as represented by the detailed patent classification system. We find that markets positively reward firms when patents are granted. We further find that firm's market value increases when its patent portfolio is cited. We find evidence of competition in innovation markets. The market reacts at the time that the citation occurs and does not anticipate future citations at the time of patenting. Holding this effect constant, we find that citations from patents in the same area of science tend to reduce market value. We interpret these findings as consistent with more citations indicating more valuable intellectual property but citations from competing technologies decreasing it.     

Benchmarking U.S. university patent value and commercialization efforts: A new approach

Despite the economic significance of patented university research, it is difficult to measure the economic value of academic patented inventions and observe the extent to which universities are able to capture such value through patent licensing. Moving beyond assessing commercialization performance by simple statistics, we propose a new approach to benchmarking university patents and commercialization performance based on comparative corporate patent value. Our procedure involves matching university patents to patents with similar patent characteristics granted to public corporations, then estimating the “potential value” of these university patents by stock market reactions to grants of the matched corporate patents. These estimated values of university patents can significantly explain the technology-level income from licensing by a leading US research university and the annual licensing income of the member universities of the Association of University Technology Managers’ (AUTM). We find that AUTM universities realize an average of 16% of the estimated value of matched corporate patents. We also investigate correlates of university‐level potential patent value and suggest avenues for future research.     

专利质押贷款环境下的专利价值决定因素研究

专利质押贷款是金融衍生产品的创新,也是缓解中小企业融资难问题的重要举措,但如何确定专利价值直接关系到专利质押贷款理论的发展及其应用。目前,在专利质押贷款环境下,研究专利价值的决定因素的文献并不多见。本文以我国2004-2010年176份专利质押贷款数据为样本,分析专利属性、企业属性以及其他控制变量对专利价值的影响。研究结果表明,质押状态下的专利属性仍是决定其价值的关键因素,企业属性能体现贷款风险的高低,它对专利质押贷款额度有着显著影响。