We investigate the causal effect of patent rights on cumulative innovation, using large-scale data that approximate the … patent universe in its technological and economic variety. We introduce a novel instrumental variable for patent invalidation … that exploits personnel scarcity in post-grant opposition at the European Patent Office. We find that patent invalidation …

. Where licensing fails, follow-on innovation is blocked unless firms gain FTO through patent invalidation. Using large …We study the blocking effect of patents on follow-on innovation by others. We posit that follow-on innovation requires … freedom to operate (FTO), which firms typically obtain through a license from the patentee holding the original innovation …

We study the evolution of patenting in China from 1985-2019. We use a Large Language Model to measure patent importance … based on patent abstracts and classify patent ownership using a comprehensive business registry. We highlight four insights …. First, average patent importance declined from 2000-2010 but has increased more recently. Second, private Chinese firms …

We study how profit taxation affects plants' R&D spending and innovation activities. Relying on geocoded survey panel …

type of independent patent claims, we show an increase in the annual share of process claims of about 25 percentage points … (from below 10% in 1920). This rise in process intensity is not limited to a few patent classes but can be observed across a … shorter than product claims; but this gap has narrowed since the 1970s. These patterns suggest that the patent breadth and …

. While the individual effects of engaging in the listed practices on firm innovation are well-understood, the existing … sample of innovation-active firms from the German Community Innovation Survey, which includes information on the development … of standards, enhanced with information on firms' engagement in patenting and publishing. We find that 26% of innovation …

invention (through patents) and the clinical trials data submitted for market approval (through data exclusivity). Patent … market exclusivity on the likelihood of drug commercialization. The effect is largely driven by patent invalidations early in …