The impact of international patent systems: Evidence from accession to the European Patent Convention

We analyze the impact of accession to the regional patent system established by the European Patent Convention (EPC) on 14 countries that acceded between 2000 and 2008. We look at changes in patenting behavior by domestic and foreign applicants at the national patent offices and the European Patent Office (EPO). We find a strong change in patent filing behavior among foreigners seeking patent protection in the accession states, substituting EPO patents for domestic patents immediately. However, there is no discernible reaction among domestic entities in terms of domestic filings, although we do find some evidence that applicants in accession states increased their propensity to file patents with the EPO post-accession. Inventors in accession countries also increase their patent filings slightly post-accession, both at the EPO and at the national offices.     

Claiming more: the Increased Voluminosity of Patent Applications and its Determinants

The size of patent applications has doubled over the past two decades, resulting in a dramatic surge in the workload of patent offices all over the world and serious concerns over patent quality standards. The current paper investigates the sources of this inflation in claims and pages for EPO applications. Four hypotheses are quantitatively examined: the diffusion of national drafting practices, the complexity of research activities, the emergence of new sectors, and filing strategies. The results validate the four hypotheses. They reveal major differences across countries in patent drafting styles, especially between Civil and Common Law countries, the latter being characterized by much larger patents. Second, the success of the PCT route is leading to the harmonizing of drafting styles worldwide on the US model. This paper therefore challenges the commonly accepted idea that more claims reflect a broader scope of protection by showing that the size of patents is partly due to institutional changes in the system.     

Applicant and examiner citations in U.S. patents: An overview and analysis

Prior art patent citations have become a popular measure of patent quality and knowledge flow between firms. Interpreting these measurements is complicated, in some cases, because prior art citations are added by patent examiners as well as by patent applicants. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) adopted new reporting procedures in 2001, making it possible to measure examiner and applicant citations separately for the first time. We analyzed prior art citations listed in all U.S. patents granted in 2001-2003, and found that examiners played a significant role in identifying prior art, adding 63% of citations on the average patent, and all citations on 40% of patents granted. An analysis of variance found that firm-specific variables explain most of the variation in examiner-citation shares. Using multivariate regression, we found that foreign applicants to the USPTO had the highest proportion of citations added by examiners. High-volume patent applicants had a greater proportion of examiner citations, and a substantial number of firms won patents without listing a single applicant citation. In terms of technology, we found higher examiner shares among patents in electronics, communications, and computer-related fields. Taken together, our findings suggest that firm-level patenting practices, particularly among high-volume applicants, have a strong influence on citation data and merit additional research.     

Construction of a Japanese Patent Database and a first look at Japanese patenting activities

A new comprehensive patent database based on patent applications filed with the Japanese Patent Office is described. We present the methodology for the construction of this database, the IIP Patent Database, its basic features and we discuss the recent history of patenting in Japan. We also compare citing-cited patterns of Japanese patents in this database with the citing-cited patterns for the same patents registered in the US, using OECD patent family information to identify US counterparts. We found similar patterns in the two countries, although citation is provided by patent examiners in Japan, while in the US a large share of citations is made by inventors.     

因迪纳(Indena)在华中药专利及其启示

因迪纳是在华中药专利申请量和授权量最多的国外医药公司,但国内学界对其关注并不多见。首次较为全面地分析因迪纳在华专利现状及其专利战略,结合我国中药行业存在的研发投入与专利创新能力不足、专利转化率较低等问题,从政府和企业两个层面提出解决问题的设想。     

Propensity to patent, competition and China's foreign patenting surge

Foreign applications for Chinese patents have been growing by over 30% a year. This paper explores two hypotheses in explaining the foreign patenting surge in China: market covering and competitive threat. With foreign companies more deeply engaged with the Chinese economy, returns from protecting their intellectual property in China have increased. As domestic Chinese firms’ ability to imitate foreign technology gains strength and competition between foreign firms intensifies in the Chinese market, such competitive threat creates an urgency for protecting intellectual property. Using a database that comprises China's State Intellectual Property Office patents and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patents, I find strong support for the competitive threat hypothesis. The estimates imply that competition between foreign firms in China can account for 36% of the annual growth of foreign patenting in China.     

国外油服公司专利布局策略分析

在当前油价较低的情况下,国外油服公司仍然保持较高的专利申请量,其专利布局与主要业务市场紧密契合,业务遍及全球主要油气产区.国外油服公司专利申请比较系统,针对新技术、新产品、新方法进行全面的布局,其中以斯伦贝谢的专利布局最为全面,哈里伯顿近5年增速迅猛,年申请量超过斯伦贝谢.三大油服公司的授权专利占比50％左右,具有较好的保护效果.基于国内外技术现状,充分结合国内企业技术需求,建议建立突围式的专利布局,加强专利监测预警,借鉴、优化改进与组合相结合,实施关键技术外围包绕、差异化技术布局的策略.     

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.     

Patent validation at the country level—The role of fees and translation costs

One feature of the European patent system that is heavily criticized nowadays is related to its fragmentation and the induced cost burden for applicants. Once a patent is granted by the EPO, the assignee must validate (and often translate) it and pay the renewal fees to keep it in force in each country in which protection is sought. The objective of this paper is to assess to what extent validation and renewal fees as well as translation costs affect the validation behavior of applicants. We rely on a gravity model that aims at explaining patent flows between inventor and target countries within the European patent system. The results show that the size of countries, their wealth and the distance between their capital cities are significant determinants of patent flows. Validation fees and renewal fees further affect the validation behavior of applicants. Translation costs seem to have an impact as well. The implementation of cost-reducing policy interventions like the London Protocol will, therefore, induce a significant increase in the number of patents validated in each European country.     

PCT专利申请的计量与中国专利的国际保护

运用专利计量方法,对全球PCT专利申请进行计量分析,将对了解中国专利的国际保护现状和提高国际保护水平产生重要影响.PCT专利申请计量分析的结果显示,全球PCT专利申请的总量呈现明显的上升发展趋势;美国、日本、德国和韩国是2007年PCT专利申请国际比例最高的四个国家;中国的PCT专利申请的年度平均增长率最高;PCT申请量全球排名前列的企业主要分布在日本和美国;PCT申请量全球排名前列的大学全部集中在美国和日本.中国专利的国际保护虽然取得了一定的成就,但还有待于进一步加强和提高.     

全球软件专利计量与中国软件专利法律保护

利用专利计量方法,对全球软件专利进行计量分析,计量结果显示,全球软件专利在2000年以后呈现出蓬勃发展的生机;美国和日本是全球软件专利申请最多的国家;全球软件专利的高产机构大部分分布在日本,但是全球软件领域的核心专利大多数却分布在美国;中国软件产业有了一定的发展,但还需要加强和完善立法工作,为软件技术的发展提供良好软环境.     

我国海洋潮汐能领域专利竞争态势分析

利用中国专利数据库,检索了357件潮汐能相关专利并进行了定量和定性分析,从专利的数量发展趋势、国别及省市分布、专利申请类型、法律状态、技术领域等多个角度,综合分析了我国潮汐能领域专利技术发展状况。结论:我国潮汐能专利的主要申请人是个人、高校和研究所,潮汐能技术专利申请密集区是F03B13,英美等国已在我国进行专利布局。根据研究结果,提出了我国潮汐能的发展建议。     

Continuing patent applications at the USPTO

Despite their growing importance for firm innovation strategy and frequent appearance in U.S. patent policy debates, how continuing patent applications are used remains unclear. Turn-of-the-century reforms strongly limited opportunities to extend patent term and surprise competitors, but continuing applications have steadily risen since. We argue that they retain a subtle use, as applicants can file continuations to keep prosecution open and change patent scope after locking in gains with the initial patent. We document a sharp drop in parent abandonment and rise in continuations per original patent after the reforms. Continuing applications are more privately valuable than original patents, are filed in more uncertain contexts, for higher value technologies, by more strategic applicants, and react strongly to the notice of allowance. The evidence supports a current strategic use of continuing applications to craft claims over time.     

全球专利发展现状及其启示 ——基于《2020世界知识产权指标》专利数据分析

针对世界知识产权组织在日内瓦发布的《2020世界知识产权指标》报告中的专利数据展开分析.《2020世界知识产权指标》报告显示,我国专利申请总数和授权总数均位列世界第一.但数据显示,我国居民海外专利申请量还远远低于美国、日本等国家,我国海外专利布局区域不平衡,我国申请人有效专利流失严重,平均使用年限偏低.为此,我国应加快...     

中国与瑞典专利技术合作研究

国际科技合作是促进国内技术创新的重要路径,而国际专利合作申请是国 际科技合作的重要体现。本文选择瑞典的优势产业技术领域,基于 1988年至2017 年瑞典、中国申请及合作申请的 PCT 专利和 EPO 专利,对专利申请及合作趋势 进行分析。剖析了我国企业与瑞典在专利技术创新方面的差距及在专利合作中存 在的问题,以期为我国企业更好地开展对瑞典科技与经济合作提供参考。尤其是 在中美经贸关系紧张背景下,探讨与关键性小国的合作对我国深化对外科技合作 战略、推动企业技术创新具有重要意义。     

Rates of invention: international patent comparisons

The increased patenting activity of foreign nationals in the United States has been a source of recent concern, and the fear has been expressed that the US is becoming relatively less technologically inventive. This paper investigates some possible causes of the increased foreign patenting activity and also briefly examines the determinants of patent filings by a country's own residents. The countries covered include: Canada, France, West Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.Based on data on patent applications filed and some preliminary regression analysis, the paper finds that the rising foreign patenting activity in the US probably does not reflect increased foreign inventiveness vis-à-vis the US. However, foreign innovativeness may be increasing relative to the US. Over the period 1963 – 1974, the domestic patent base, measured by the number of patent applications filed by nationals in their home countries, has shown little change in any country except for Japan. Rather, multiple patent applications and a greater propensity to patent abroad, induced by the possibilities of exporting, appear to be the sources of the increase in foreign patent applications in the US and also in Japan.     

新冠疫情下的人冠状病毒医药专利态势分析

2019年新冠疫情暴发,引发全球科学家对人冠状病毒医药领域的高度重视.本文基于既往已知的6种人冠状病毒相关专利数据信息,从专利来源及分布、专利技术、专利申请趋势、主要申请人等维度对人冠状病毒医药专利态势进行分析,并展示了人冠状病毒医药领域的国内外研发概况,以期从整体上把握目前人冠状病毒医药领域的专利现状和发展趋势,从而...     

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。     

贸易摩擦背景下外国在华技术创新战略及启示研究

贸易摩擦的最终目的是争夺技术创新的制高点。研究借助SPSS统计软件，以金砖国家2000-2018年在华获授权的3696项专利为依据，对外国在华专利技术的时序变化、专利权人、优势技术领域、优先权和PCT专利、有效专利、专利权利转移和被引用等特征进行了分析。研究得出以下结论：①大型企业专利权人是外国在华实施专利技术创新战略的主导力量，个人专利权人是重要力量。②根据科技发展需求，技术保护是外国在华进行专利技术创新战略的主要目的。③经济发展水平和主导产业优势是外国在华实施专利技术创新战略的推动要素。④应该以“一带一路”战略为契机，加强自主创新和技术创新合作，吸引更多核心创新技术首次在华申请专利和进行技术转移，推动中国国际科技创新中心建设，争取更为有利的国际竞争环境。     

国际稀土产业中游专利技术研发概况分析

 稀土是现代工业中不可或缺的战略资源，并作为重要的基础性材料对传统工业等行业有显著的改造和创新。为深层次探析稀土产业中游核心技术的发展情况，本文基于1967-2016年德温特数据库收录的稀土产业中游有关的专利数据，还应用到的方法有统计分析方法和科学知识图谱方法，从多个角度对国际稀土产业中游专利技术研发进行分析：对时间趋势分析发现整体趋势呈周期性指数增长，并可划分为三个阶段；对区域分布分析发现中、日、美三国是推动稀土产业中游技术发展的主要力量；对专利申请人分析发现专利在核心申请人中比较集中，而在边缘申请人中比较分散，核心技术掌握在少数人手中；绘制专利申请人合作网络分析后发现，合作团体主要由两个部分构成，并且发现国外的公司与机构之间有密切的合作，〖JP2〗中国对稀土应用材料的研究起步较晚，各研究机构之间合作关系稀疏，且多为大学和研究所；对热点技术领域分析发现，在图谱中处于核心位置的有B01J-023/63、B01D-053/94、B01J-023/10、B01J-037/02等技术领域，且密度较大；分析演进路径出现的专利的强度发现并非全部为核心专利。稀土产业中游应加大核心产业的升级，紧随国际前沿发展趋势，保持技术研发优势，强化创新体系和能力建设，从而促进稀土产业中游技术的高质量发展。