International,intra-national and inter-firm knowledge diffusion and technological catch-up: the USA,Japan, Korea and Taiwan in the memory chip industry

Using data on US patent citations, this paper investigates the pattern of international, intranational and interfirm knowledge diffusion in the process of technological catch-up by Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese firms in the memory chip industry. First, regarding international diffusion, this paper finds that the ordering of citations is exactly the same as the order of entry into the industry: Taiwanese firms tend to cite Korean firms, Korean firms tend to cite Japanese firms and Japanese firms tend to cite US firms. Second, the degree of intranational knowledge diffusion is proportional to the level of technological capability or order of entry, although it is also affected by organisational differences among the firms. Third, the difference in patterns of interfirm knowledge reflects difference across organisations, such that big Korean group firms are less oriented toward interfirm knowledge diffusion compared with their Taiwanese small and medium enterprise (SME) counterparts. To explain such difference, the role of government research institutions has been highlighted, especially since the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) accounts for the lion's share of Taiwanese-held patents and in the spin-offs of many firms in the industry.     

Lovely but dangerous: The impact of patent citations on patent renewal

What is the impact of patent citations on patent renewal behaviour? Patent citations are commonly used as an indicator of technology spillovers. For cited patents, therefore, patent citations have a potentially ambiguous impact. On the one hand, patent citations may indicate a scientific breakthrough, a high value of the cited patent and therefore a long survival period. On the other hand, patent citations may indicate competing innovations that render the cited patent obsolete. By discriminating patents by technology field, it is demonstrated that patents that receive citations across technology fields survive longer than other patents. Patents that receive citations within the same technology field lapse earlier.     

Running ahead in the nanotechnology gold rush. Strategic patenting in emerging technologies

This paper provides theoretical and empirical contributions on how patent scope varies over time and by type of applicants in the initial phases of an emerging technology. We refer to the literature on technology life-cycles and on appropriability regimes in order to study the evolution of patent scope – as measured by the number of claims – in the specific case of nanotechnology. Our regression analyses, based on a sample of 58,244 nanotech US patents, show that – once time, sector and firm effects are controlled for – patent scope decreases over the subsequent phases of the technology life-cycle. Moreover, we find that university nanotech patents tend to be characterized by a broader scope than other patents. We conclude by discussing the managerial and policy implications of our empirical results.     

专利特征对加入专利池的影响——基于MPEG LA的实证研究

什么特征的专利更容易加入专利池？以MPEGLA专利池内1073件专利与池外1073件控制专利为样本,实证研究专利技术范围、权利与地域范围、审批与维持时间、前向与后向引用对加入专利池的影响。结果表明,技术和地域覆盖范围越广,维持时间越长,专利引用与被引数次越多,越有可能加入专利池;专利审批时间越长,非专利文献引用越多,越难加入专利池;权利要求范围对专利能否入池无显著影响。研究结论对企业专利文件撰写、专利入池申请及专利池管理机构开展专利评估具有重要意义。     

The Effect of Technological Impact upon Patent Renewal Decisions

This paper analyzes the relationship between the technological impact of US patents, as measured using patent citation analysis, and the renewal decisions made by their owners. A significant positive relationship was discovered between these variables across a number of time periods. For example, 60% of patents uncited in the first eight years after publication were renewed at that point, compared with over 90% of patents cited more than 50 times in the first eight years. The relationship between citations and renewals remained highly significant even after controlling for differences between internal and external citations, and differences in technologies and patent ownership. Further analysis was undertaken into the relative influence of technological impact and maintenance costs upon renewal decisions. This analysis revealed that after patent maintenance fees were doubled for patents applied for after August 1982, a larger proportion of patents was maintained at each renewal point despite the increase. These patents also had a greater technological impact than patents applied for prior to the increase in maintenance fees, reflected by the larger number of citations they received. It may thus be inferred that the technological impact of patents had a greater influence upon renewal decisions than economic concerns regarding the costs of their renewal.     

The Effect of Technological Impact upon Patent Renewal Decisions

This paper analyzes the relationship between the technological impact of US patents, as measured using patent citation analysis, and the renewal decisions made by their owners. A significant positive relationship was discovered between these variables across a number of time periods. For example, 60% of patents uncited in the first eight years after publication were renewed at that point, compared with over 90% of patents cited more than 50 times in the first eight years. The relationship between citations and renewals remained highly significant even after controlling for differences between internal and external citations, and differences in technologies and patent ownership. Further analysis was undertaken into the relative influence of technological impact and maintenance costs upon renewal decisions. This analysis revealed that after patent maintenance fees were doubled for patents applied for after August 1982, a larger proportion of patents was maintained at each renewal point despite the increase. These patents also had a greater technological impact than patents applied for prior to the increase in maintenance fees, reflected by the larger number of citations they received. It may thus be inferred that the technological impact of patents had a greater influence upon renewal decisions than economic concerns regarding the costs of their renewal.     

How well do patent citations measure flows of technology? Evidence from French innovation surveys

Patent citation data are used in a growing body of economics and business research on technological diffusion. Until now, there exists little evidence on whether patent citations are a good measure of knowledge flows. Our paper assesses the legitimacy of using European patent citations as a measure of technology flows. It uses information from the Community Innovation Survey collected by the French Service des Statistiques Industrielles (SESSI), which contain firms’ responses to questions about their innovative activity. We show that patent citations are indeed related to firms’ statements about their acquisition and dispersion of new technology, but that the strength and statistical significance of this relationship varies across geographical regions and across channels of knowledge diffusion.     

Types of patents and driving forces behind the patent growth in China

As a developing economy, China's unprecedented patenting surge is puzzling. We study China's patent surge and its driving forces using a novel and comprehensive merged dataset on patent applications filed by Chinese firms. We find that R&D investment, FDI, and patent subsidy have different effects on different types of patents. First, R&D investment has a positive and significant impact on patenting activities for all types of patents under different model specifications. Second, the stimulating effect of foreign direct investment on patent applications is only robust for utility model patents and design patents. Third, the patent subsidy only has a positive impact on design patents. The results imply that FDI and patent subsidy may disproportionately spur low-quality patents.     

Exploring the effect of structural patent indicators in forward patent citation networks on patent price from firm market value

This paper introduces structural patent indicators in the forward patent citation networks (FPCNs). Using the estimates of their relationship with firm market value, it explores the effect of the structural patent indicators on patent price. When applied to US smartphone industry and US drug and biotechnology industry, the common finding is that a firm's registered patent gets higher price if influenced faster by the previously registered patents of the same firm through self-citations. The empirical results imply that merely counting forward citations, shown related to patent price by the previous works, is insufficient; the structural properties in FPCNs are essential for the more accurate estimation of patent price. They also show that the relationships between structural patent indicators in the FPCNs and patent price are different between industries. It urges the necessity of selecting structural patent indicators, well fitted to each industry, for the better patent valuation using forward citations.     

The Impact of Patents on Innovation,Technology Transfer and Health: A Pre- and Post-TRIPs Analysis of India's Pharmaceutical Industry

The debate surrounding the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement indicates that patents matter for development. Yet literature on the geography of knowledge transfer shows that knowledge is spatially sticky, suggesting that the impact of patents can be exaggerated. Using interview evidence, this paper explores how Indian pharmaceutical firms have responded to changes in patent law, including the introduction of more extensive patent protection in 2005 as a condition of TRIPs. A regime of limited patent protection for over three decades prior to TRIPs facilitated informal knowledge transfer and the emergence of a pharmaceutical industry with significant domestic capabilities. Contrary to some expectations, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has continued to grow post-TRIPs, with large domestic firms becoming involved in more formal technology transfer as part of an increasingly collaborative relationship with multinationals. This trend is also driven by a focus on the markets of developed countries, raising questions for the future sustainability of India's low-priced medicines. While changes in patent law can facilitate or inhibit a variety of aspects of development, the adaptation of the Indian pharmaceutical industry suggests that their impact must be related to the broader institutional setting, particularly the underlying domestic capabilities.     

Large Firms and Knowledge Flows in the Dutch R&D System: A Case Study of Philips Electronics

This paper uses data on patent-to-patent citations and patent-to-science-literature citations to study the spillover network of companies and research institutes around Philips Electronics. The theoretical section of the paper surveys the literature on innovation regimes and regional systems of innovation, and uses this to derive a number of testable hypotheses on the Philips network. The main findings of the paper are that the importance of local firms in the technology network around Philips is small, but the impact of local (semi-)public institutes is larger. Also, it is found that large firms generate a large part of the scientific literature that is referred to in Philips patents.     

Large Firms and Knowledge Flows in the Dutch R&D System: A Case Study of Philips Electronics

This paper uses data on patent-to-patent citations and patent-to-science-literature citations to study the spillover network of companies and research institutes around Philips Electronics. The theoretical section of the paper surveys the literature on innovation regimes and regional systems of innovation, and uses this to derive a number of testable hypotheses on the Philips network. The main findings of the paper are that the importance of local firms in the technology network around Philips is small, but the impact of local (semi-)public institutes is larger. Also, it is found that large firms generate a large part of the scientific literature that is referred to in Philips patents.     

Measuring knowledge persistence: a genetic approach to patent citation networks

The aim of this paper is to propose a new empirical method for identifying technologically important patents within a patent citation network and to apply it to the telecommunication switching industry. The method proposed is labelled the genetic approach, as it is inspired by population genetics: as geneticists are interested in studying patterns of migration and therefore the common origins of people, in innovation studies we are interested in tracing the origin and the evolution of today knowledge. In the context of patent and citation networks, this is done by calculating the patent’s persistence index, i.e., decomposing patent’s knowledge applying the Mendelian law of gene inheritance. This draws on the idea that the more a patent is related (through citations) to “descendent” patents, the more it affects future technological development and therefore its contribution persists in the technology. Results show that the method proposed is successful in reducing the number of both nodes and links considered. Furthermore, our method is indeed successful in identifying technological discontinuities where previous knowledge is not relevant for current technological development.     

异质性研发、知识溢出与企业创新产出——基于创新链视角的实证分析

畅通创新链的首要前提，是科学认识嵌入创新链的不同类型企业所承载的创新功能差异及企业间技术经济联系。利用2012—2018年我国上市公司授权专利的前向索引数据进行统计分析发现，不同所有制企业存在异质性研发行为，国有企业研发活动更多承担了基础研究创新功能，而民营企业研发活动更多承担了应用研究创新功能。运用面板Tobit模型实证分析异质性研发知识溢出对企业创新产出的影响，结果表明，国有企业知识溢出对企业发明专利与非发明专利申请均表现为促进作用，民营企业知识溢出对企业发明专利申请表现为促进作用，而对非发明专利申请表现为抑制作用，且作用大小在不同所有制以及不同生命周期的企业间存在差异。由此，基于创新链构建新型国家创新体系过程中，应引导国有企业优先布局高度依赖基础研究的科学领域，解决市场失灵问题并充分发挥其创新促进效应；鼓励民营企业在共性技术研究领域展开协作，规避同业竞争所形成的创新抑制效应；因企制宜、分类施策，实现创新资源高效配置和综合集成。     

More is better: evidence that joint patenting leads to quality innovation

Joint ownership of a patent is most often viewed by firms as a second-best option compared to single, monopoly ownership. However, the results of this article suggest that there may be reason for businesses and policymakers to incentivize joint patenting behaviour. This is because, joint patent ownership is found to positively impact the quality of an innovation (as measured by forward patent citations). In addition, the degree of quality increases with the number of patent owners. Since past research confirms the important links between patent quality and ongoing innovation, and between innovation and growth, those factors that impact patent quality are deserving of attention. Economic research on joint patenting is currently limited, but we hope to shed light on the importance of expanding dialogue on this topic.     

异质性研发、知识溢出与企业创新产出——基于创新链视角的实证分析

畅通创新链的首要前提，是科学认识嵌入创新链的不同类型企业所承载的创新功能差异及企业间技术经济联系。利用2012—2018年我国上市公司授权专利的前向索引数据进行统计分析发现，不同所有制企业存在异质性研发行为，国有企业研发活动更多承担了基础研究创新功能，而民营企业研发活动更多承担了应用研究创新功能。运用面板Tobit模型实证分析异质性研发知识溢出对企业创新产出的影响，结果表明，国有企业知识溢出对企业发明专利与非发明专利申请均表现为促进作用，民营企业知识溢出对企业发明专利申请表现为促进作用，而对非发明专利申请表现为抑制作用，且作用大小在不同所有制以及不同生命周期的企业间存在差异。由此，基于创新链构建新型国家创新体系过程中，应引导国有企业优先布局高度依赖基础研究的科学领域，解决市场失灵问题并充分发挥其创新促进效应；鼓励民营企业在共性技术研究领域展开协作，规避同业竞争所形成的创新抑制效应；因企制宜、分类施策，实现创新资源高效配置和综合集成。     

Inventing together: exploring the nature of international knowledge spillovers in Latin America

This paper studies the nature, sources and determinants of international patenting activity in Latin American countries (LACs) and examines the extent to which LACs benefit from R&D that is performed in the G-5 countries (France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). By using patents and patent citations from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, we trace sectoral knowledge flows from G-5 countries to LACs. We study the impact of three channels of knowledge flows: foreign R&D, patent citation-related spillovers, and face-to-face contact spillovers. Our results, based on data for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, suggest that international knowledge spillovers from the G-5 countries were a significant determinant of inventive activity during the period 1988–2003. We find that the stock of ideas produced in the USA has a strong impact on the international patenting activity of these countries. Moreover, controlling for US-driven R&D effects, bilateral patent citations and face-to-face relationships between inventors are both important additional mechanisms of knowledge transmission. Some of our results suggest that the latter mechanism is more important than the former.     

Commercialization,renewal, and quality of patents

One of the major reasons why inventors are awarded patents by governments is they encourage R&D investments and commercialization of inventions. If the patent holder commercializes his/her invention, he/she has stronger incentives to retain the patent. The purpose here is to empirically analyze the relationship between commercialization and the renewal of patents. At the same time, I take into account defensive patent strategies (e.g. deterring competitors from utilizing the patent) and pointedly ask if there are any third factors (quality of the patent) that affect the commercialization and renewal decisions. Using a detailed database of Swedish patents, I utilize a survival model to estimate how commercialization influences the patent renewal decision. Basic results show not only that commercialization and defensive strategies increase the probability a patent will be renewed, but also that quality influences commercialization and renewal decisions. When controlling for the endogenous commercialization decision, there is still a strong positive relationship between commercialization and renewal of patents. Thus, given the quality of the patent, if the owner decides to commercialize the patent on the margin, this leads to longer survival of the patent. With regard to commercialization modes, there is some evidence that licensed patents and patents commercialized in original and new firms – but not acquired patents – survive longer than non-commercialized patents. Looking more closely at the contracts of acquired and licensed patents, contracts with both variable and fixed fees – but not contracts with either variable or fixed fees – survive longer than non-commercialized patents. However, the analysis about modes and contract terms does not take into account the endogeneity problem.     

Patent life cycle: New evidence

Patents and their renewals are critical because they protect inventions and reinforce information reported to investors about the utility and the quality of inventions. Thus, they signal the appropriate use of financial resources being invested, notably in research and development departments, and future revenues for their owner. Based on a sample of about 22,700 European patents, our research contributes to existing literature on patent renewal by two relevant outcomes. The first contribution proposes a possible definition of a European patent life cycle: abandonment of procedure, natural abandonment, and late withdrawal. The second contribution shows two main factors that influence the renewal of a European patent by examining delivery time and the cumulative number of citations.Our results show that the procedure is the key issue of structuring the patent's life. In addition, patents' viability is likely to happen given that a part in a series of patents is increasing, which means that valuable patents are often cited by later ones. The relationship stems from the rational behavior of market operators who will try to minimize essential ownership.     

US PATENT CITATIONS DATA AND INDUSTRIAL KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS

The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate the US interindustry knowledge spillover using the NBER patents data file (1963–1999). Reputing the patent backward citations as a good proxy of the patent's knowledge spillover, we proceed by building a time series to each US manufacturing industry patent citations and their lags. Then, we generate the time series of the external and the internal knowledge flow indices, showing that traditional sectors are more technology-dependent from the others than the new one. Here, in the spirit of Pavitt [Pavitt, Research Policy 13, 343–73, 1984]. We derive a new taxonomy of innovation focusing on the ideas instead of the goods production in order to obtain the innovation linkage and trajectories. Once we determined that each sector's most cited patents are typically belong to the ‘new’ sectors, we evaluate the high- and low-tech sectors innovation effect on the whole economy innovation process. Confirming that the high-tech sectors, and its R&D expenditures, are the most important, we conclude that it is the giant's shoulders, substance of the whole economy.