Patent Examination Quality and Litigation: Is There a Link?

Abstract

In this study, we use carefully constructed matched samples of litigated and non-litigated patents to investigate the characteristics that predict litigation. We define different control groups based on filing characteristics and value correlates (or both), and test the extent to which examination characteristics predict litigation. This paper is the first to use detailed examination characteristics to understand the resulting patent rights. By controlling (at least in part) for patent value, the estimation strategy has implications for the degree to which patent examination characteristics are correlated with uncertainty. We find that some examination characteristics predict litigation, but that the bulk of the predictive power in the model comes from filing characteristics.