This paper investigates the role of patent protection in the global investment decisions of multinational firms. Using comprehensive firm-level panel data of German multinationals, we investigate how changes in a host country’s patent protection influence the extensive and intensive margin of...

This paper analyses the development of universities' patent applications in Germany before and after the abolition of the 'professors' privilege' in 2002. By means of a database with all patent applications of German universities with professors among the inventors (1990-2006), systematic...

In the 1990s, patenting schemes changed in many respects: upcoming new technologies accelerated the shift from price competition towards competition based on technical inventions, a worldwide surge in patenting took place, and the 'patent thicket' arose as a consequence of strategic patenting....

3D printing is a technology that has the potential to revolutionise manufacturing as we know it. While 3D printing is becoming mainstream, few consumers of printing services have the capacity to undertake their own printing. Around the technology, a service industry is burgeoning, as consumers...

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the determinants of patent litigation in Germany, based on information from suits filed during the period from 1993 to 1995 at two of the three most important district courts. A control group was formed by selecting a random sample from the population...

This paper develops a sequential application-grant framework to analyze competing explanations for the two U.S. patent surges during the mid-eighties and early nineties: (a) the ¿friendly court¿ hypothesis argues that legislative changes in the 1980s lowered the cost of patenting and led to...

Patenting by universities has seen a marked increase in the past two decades. According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), patents issued by the United States Patent Office (USPTO) to U.S. academic institutions more than doubled from 2,293 in 1996 to 5,990 in 2014, the most recent year...

This paper aims at analysing the risk of intellectual property (IP) infringements by competitors from abroad and in particular whether this risk is higher for international innovating firms. We distinguish three different types of IP infringements from abroad: the usage of firms' technical...

This paper aims at analysing the risk of intellectual property (IP) infringements by competitors from abroad and in particular whether this risk is higher for international innovating firms. We distinguish three different types of IP infringements from abroad: the usage of firms' technical...

In 2004 the German Patent and Trademark Office commissioned the Ifo Institute to deliver a research report on the topic "Identification of Available and Desirable Indicators for Patent Systems, Patenting Processes and Patent Rights". - The report provides an extensive overview of the existing...