of the developing world introduces patent protection for new drug products. This may lead to more research on drugs to … those already offering such protection the situation offers a unique opportunity to examine the incentive role of patent … provides a baseline' against which future research activity can be compared once the new global patent regime is fully …

Japanese patent systems. Under the Japanese system it is possible for a firm to apply for a patent knowing the exact … specifications of a rival's patent application. In contrast, in the U.S. the only way a firm learns about a rival's innovation is … upon the actual granting of the rival's patent. We argue that this difference enables Japanese firms to coordinate their R …

A switch to a first-to-file patent regime from its first-to-invent system has become imminent for the U.S. To learn … adopting a first-to-file patent regime …

Does an expansion of patent scope induce more innovative effort by firms? This article provides evidence on this … question by examining firm responses to the Japanese patent reforms of 1988. Interviews with practitioners suggest the reforms … significantly expanded the scope of patent rights in Japan, but that the average response in terms of additional R&D effort and …

function of patent characteristics, university policy, and inventor fields in order to examine the extent to which outside …

We report the results of the first comparative study of the determinants and effects of patent oppositions in Europe … thirty times higher than the rate of re-examination at the USPTO. Moreover, opposition leads to a revocation of the patent in … about 41 percent of the cases, and to a restriction of the patent right in another 30 percent of the cases. Re …

The recent surge in U.S. patenting and expansion of patentable subject matter has increased patent office backlogs and …. At the same time patent litigation and its costs are rising. This paper explores the potential of a post-grant review … process modeled on the European opposition system to improve patent quality, reveal overlooked prior art, and reduce …

We analyze the impact of accession to the regional patent system established by the European Patent Convention (EPC) on … applicants at the national patent offices and the European Patent Office (EPO). Our findings suggest a strong change in patent … filing behavior among foreigners seeking patent protection in the accession states, substituting EPO patents for domestic …