We investigate how a deferred patent examination system promotes ex-ante screening of patent applications, which … significantly increases both eventual and early requests, controlling for the blocking use of a pending patent application. This …

reduced form patent production functions, based on instrumental variables approach, using a large database on Japanese firms … significantly shifts the structural patent production function. …

activities from the perspective of patent prosecution. Specifically, attention is paid to the tendency that the obtainment of … patents related to technical standards is often done through the utilization of the systems allowing patent applicants to file … new applications (collectively called continuing applications under the US patent system) enjoying the benefit of the …

This paper investigates the effects of outsourcing of prior art search on the efficiency of patent examination, using a … large scale Japanese patent examination data. Outsourcing may increase examination quality by expanding the scope of prior …

at the patent application stage and the sunk cost incurred for obtaining and developing a patent, the patent (internal … theoretical predictions. Moreover, a firm with larger price cost margin does not have a lower rate of patent utilization, which … more diversified patent portfolio tends to have more patents but its utilization rate tends to be lower, suggesting that …