The heterogeneous effects of patent scope on licensing propensity

How does patent scope influence licensing propensity of inventions? Prior studies have often been confined to specific industries or settings, and their results have been mixed with studies showing a positive, a negative, or even no significant relationship. Also, while some have explored moderating factors that might influence the patent scope-licensing relationship, a systematic investigation of the heterogeneous effects of patent scope on licensing at the invention level has not been undertaken. This study combines a broad sample of publicly reported patent licensing agreements and a novel methodology that captures an exogenous variation in patent scope to re-investigate the relationship between patent scope and licensing and to explore key invention and inventor characteristics that could influence this relationship. The results show that narrowed patent scope leads to a substantial decline in licensing propensity of inventions and that the effect is stronger for high-quality, science-based, and novel inventions as well as for inventions generated by small inventors.     

Testing patent value indicators on directly observed patent value—An empirical analysis of Ocean Tomo patent auctions

The valuation of patents is an important, albeit challenging task. Extant research to identify patent value indicators has so far relied on expert estimates of patent value, exploited patent renewal data, or depended on more indirect measures of patent value. Recently, specialized market places for patent transactions have emerged that allow us for the first time to directly observe patent's private value. One of the most prominent market places for patents is Ocean Tomo, a platform that offers periodical patent auctions. We make use of this auction data to empirically test predictions on patent value identifiers on real-world auction prices. We find empirical support for forward citations and the patent's family size; however, both indicators explain only a small variance in patent value. In contrast, our full model explains a large share of variance, making us optimistic that with increased directly observed patent value, such models can be useful tools in patent valuation.     

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.     

创设准公益性专利交易机制研究

准公益性专利交易指兼顾营利性与公益性等双重效果的专利交易行为。其宗旨、资金来源、机构性质、收费方式、评价方式及其评价指标与协调难易程度等方面具有特殊性。本研究建言以交易费用理论与利益平衡理论为制度基础,打造特色专利银行,汇聚布局型与反诉型专利,形成开放会员模式的基金招募等专利运营模式,设置布局型与反诉型专利基金,创设准公益性专利交易机制。     

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.     

科研机构专利分级分类管理体系研究

本文立足于现阶段科研机构专利管理工作面临的突出问题,探索建立一套符合科研机构知识产权发展阶段,体现科研机构自身特点的分层进阶式专利分级分类管理体系,并尝试构建了围绕战略、法律、技术和效益4个维度的科研机构专利价值评价模型,为科研组织开展全生命周期专利管理和决策提供参考。     

Patent trading flows of small and large firms

This article provides new evidence on the patent trading flows of small and large firms. We document aggregate patterns of patent sales and acquisitions of small and large firms. We also examine the extent to which the initial innovator's and the potential buyers’ prior knowledge stocks in the same technology area and in geographical proximity with a patented invention are associated with the likelihood that the patent is sold, and whether the patent sold is bought by a small or large firm. To do so, we develop a dataset that matches patent sales and information on whether transacted patents are owned by small or large firms following a patent sale.     

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.     

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.     

透过专利信息看区域科技创新能力

创新是新时代的主题,专利是科技创新的源泉,而专利指标是反映创新过程的重要指标。本文以贵州省专利数据为例,借用专利密度指数、有效专利、发明专利等具体指标,通过与全国和西部十二省区专利数据的比较分析,以及对贵州省专利分类的不同情况、地区分布和领域分布,分别研究分析了贵州省科技创新能力,最后小结了存在的问题,提出改进措施。     

Boundary spanning innovation and the patent system: Interdisciplinary challenges for a specialized examination system

This article discusses the importance of boundary spanning innovation, demonstrates the drawbacks of popular metadata based boundary spanning measures, and proposes a new full text semantic similarity measure of boundary spanning. It subsequently uses the semantic distance boundary spanning measure to demonstrate that boundary spanning innovation has become more common in recent decades, and show that these boundary spanning inventions pose challenges for the traditional specialized-examiner patent examination model. Examining the applications for inventions that span technical boundaries takes longer and requires more back-and-forth with the patent office than their comparatively simple peers. Finally, this article discusses potential reforms to the patent examination system to help address these challenges.     

专利审查高速路对后续申请国技术创新的影响机制研究

结合当前世界范围内专利审查积压以及专利审查高速路(简称PPH)的现状,从两个方面研究PPH是如何对后续申请国技术创新造成积极或消极影响的,目的是为今后中国如何参与PPH提供政策建议。PPH对后续申请国的技术创新会造成积极与消极双重影响,如果不能有效控制后续申请的审查质量,将使得消极影响大于积极影响,最终反而会阻碍后续申请国的技术创新。因此中国国家知识产权局作为后续申请局参与PPH时,有必要建立后续申请审查质量控制机制,以防范后续申请审查质量的下降。     

Internal sequential innovations: How does interrelatedness affect patent renewal?

The value of patented innovations has attracted substantial research attention, especially in the context of patent renewal. However, research often assumes that a firm's patented innovations are independent from each other. We draw upon evolutionary economics and suggest that some of a firm's patents share important genealogical relationships, which we refer to as internal sequential innovations. We propose internal sequential innovations are more valuable and therefore more likely to be renewed than stand-alone innovations. We examine our hypotheses from a dataset of US pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents. The results confirm our hypotheses at both the patent and the firm levels.     

绿色技术平台项目——美国阿波罗计划的引擎

为应对全球气候变化和传统化石能源逐渐枯竭等问题,全世界都开始关注新能源的开发。美国总统奥巴马在2011年的国情咨文中,明确他的首要任务之一是确保美国在清洁能源及能源效率新兴工业中保持全球的领导地位,并称之为美国新时代的"阿波罗计划"。而助推这一计划展开的重要举措是实施绿色技术平台项目。文章介绍了项目具体内容,探索了项目的优势,分析了项目运行情况不理想可能存在的临时性和永久性缺陷,对比世界上主要国家的绿色通道提出完善该项目的建议。     

专利审查高速路运行分析

专利审查高速路的运行情况可以印证专利审查高速路的制度成效。专利审查周期的缩短和专利审查工作效率的提高等优势促进了合作模式的多元化和成员的全球化。通过数据分析可知,专利审查高速路参与率得到提升,有利于专利审查高速路的长远发展。面对日益激增的全球专利申请量,专利审查高速路表现了其强大的适应性和生命力。作为IP5 PPH的主要成员,我国应着眼于前瞻性的科技发展战略,积极参与专利审查国际协作制度的构建,适时加入Global PPH,为我国企业的专利布局、占领国际市场提供先机。     

三一重工的专利情报挖掘与分析研究

利用知网专利数据库检索三一重工的专利数据,采用数据统计分析、聚类分析等方法从专利申请趋势、申请区域分布、发明人合作网络、技术研发领域分布、专利类型分布、法律状态分布等方面对专利数据进行多维度的情报挖掘与分析,并基于分析结果和企业创新发展需求,从技术创新储备、技术创新合作、海外专利布局、专利战略管理环境建设、专利情报战略体系建设等方面提出了具体的对策建议。     

企业专利战略的开发研究

21世纪，知识产权被看作是经济上成功的重要因素，专利成为企业创收的重要来源，本文对企业专利战略的开发进行了深入地研究和探讨，并介绍了一些专利战略。     

专利维持时间影响因素的实证研究

基于国家知识产权局公布的2008—2010年间失效专利数据,从专利质量的视角对国内外专利维持时间进行比较,并通过回归分析其影响因素。分析结果表明:国外专利维持时间平均比国内专利高2年左右,专利申请书的权利要求项数、说明书页数是影响专利维持时间的重要因素;同时,在权利人国别、类型不同的情况下,专利维持时间表现出明显的差异,事业单位专利维持时间最长,国外比国内专利存在显著优势。     

基于权利要求数的专利维持时间影响因素研究

作为专利制度核心的权利要求决定了技术方案的保护深度和广度。作为权利要求关键指标的权利要求数对专利价值,尤其是对专利维持时间的影响程度如何,需要深入研究。基于中国、美国、德国、法国、日本与韩国授权专利数据,采用Logistic模型分析专利权利要求数与维持时间之间的关系发现:除日本和韩国授权专利外,权利要求数对专利维持时间存在正向影响。同时发现,基于专利文献来研究权利要求对维持时间的影响具有一定局限性。     

专利竞赛中的租值消散分析

从专利的保护成本和专利质量角度观察,专利中存在大量的租值消散现象。针对专利研发的参与权没有清楚界定,通过引入标准的租值消散模型来分析科研活动(尤其是专利研发竞赛)中的租值消散问题。研究发现,专利制度本身存在不少降低租值消散的因素:专利研发中的复杂性、随机性、不可预测性,以及参与者研究能力、所用设备要求、机会成本等方面的较大差异。通过对照理论模型和事实,对如何进一步减少专利制度中的租值消散提出政策建议。