We study the causal impact of invalidating marginally valid patents during post-grant opposition at the European Patent … participation of a patent's original examiner in the opposition division as an instrument. We find a disciplinary effect of … invalidation: Affected inventors file 20% fewer patent applications in the decade after the decision. This effect is entirely …

firm as a passive observer of invention declines. This study argues that acquiring firms can take measures by hiring new … key inventors. We show that the hiring of new key inventors in the post-M&A period can counteract invention declines in …

remaining career. We use European patent data for a period of 32 years for 1240 German inventors. The patent data are linked … of inventors applying for the first patent after completing education or being in the highest quartile of citations … received for the first patent. The higher career productivity seems to be a consequence of higher individual ability rather …