The commercialization of inventions is an investment, similar to spending on plant and equipment, and accordingly we would expect it to be affected by macroeconomic conditions. Using data on the commercialization activity from over 4000 inventors, we find evidence that macroeconomic conditions...

One component of the duration of pending patents – why applicants choose to delay the examination process – is modelled. We use a matched sample of 9,597 patent applications. Controlling for differences between patent offices, we find evidence of strategic behaviour by applicants.

We use data from 3000 academic scientists to estimate the effects of other parties' patents on the academics' research. Nearly half of all scientists report that their choice of research projects has been affected by the presence of other parties' patents. We find that transaction costs and the...

Conditional on the decision to enter the market for immature technology, we test for the effects that trust – as proxied by the context in which the negotiating parties met – has on the likelihood that these negotiations are successful. Using a randomised dataset of 860 university-firm and...

We use data from 3000 academic scientists to estimate the effects of other parties’ patents on the academics’ research. Nearly half of all scientists report that their choice of research projects has been affected by the presence of other parties’ patents. We find that transaction costs...

Conditional on the decision to enter the market for immature technology, we test for the effects that trust – as proxied by the context in which the negotiating parties met – has on the likelihood that these negotiations are successful. Using a randomised dataset of 860 university-firm and...

Conditional on the decision to enter the market for immature technology, we test for the effects that trust—proxied by the context in which the negotiating parties first met—has on the likelihood that these negotiations are successful. Using survey responses from 860 university–firm and...

This paper examines the factors that cause differences in patent examination outcomes at the trilateral patent offices using a dataset of more than 70,000 non-PCT patent applications filed at the European and Japanese Patent Offices conditional upon them being granted by the United States Patent...

The effectiveness of patent protection depends not only on the existence of patent laws on the books, but also on the ability to enforce the rights granted by those laws. In recent years, there has been concern expressed in Australia that courts are providing inadequate protection for patent...

There is a common, largely anecdotally-based belief that registered intellectual property is a less efficient form of protection for SME inventors compared with inventors from large firms. This paper discusses the reasons why SMEs may be disadvantaged in their use of intellectual property as...