This paper analyses whether strategic motives for patenting influence the characteristics ofcompanies’ patent portfolios. We use the number of citations and oppositions to representthese characteristics. The investigation is based on survey and patent data from German companies.We find clear...

This paper analyzes the causality between inventor productivity and inventor mobility. The results show that the level of education has no influence on inventor productivity. Making use of external sources of knowledge, on the contrary, has a significant effect on productivity. Finally, firm...

We formulate a simple model of optimal defensive disclosure by a monopolist facinguncertain antitrust enforcement and test its implications using unique data on defensivedisclosures and patents by IBM during 1955-1989. Our results indicate that strongerantitrust enforcement leads to more...

By using the PatVal-EU dataset we find that the most important determinant of patent licensing is firm size. Patent breadth, value, protection, and other factors suggested by the literature also have an impact, but not as important. In addition, most of these factors affect the willingness to...

Patents are widely used in the literature as a measure of firm-level innovation. It is regarded that patents improve a firm’s operational environment and ultimately increase the value of the firm. However, the relationship between patents and firm value in Korea is under-explored in the...

Herbert Zech, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, fällt insgesamt ein positives Urteil zum Patentschutz: Er ermögliche technische Innovation in Bereichen, in denen sich Entwicklungsaktivitäten wegen leichter Nachahmbarkeit und hohen Investitionsbedarfs ansonsten nicht lohnen würden....

Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen greifen zum Schutz von Innovationsergebnissen deutlich seltener auf geistige Eigentumsrechte zurück als größere Unternehmen. Der zurückhaltende Umgang mit Patenten, Urheberrechten oder Handelsmarken lässt sich in vielen Fällen durch den unternehmerischen...

The objective of this paper is to show the necessity of reviving the debate on the economic justifications for patent protection. On the one hand, we see the need for the assessment of the overall welfare consequences of the existing systems of patent protection, and on the other hand, we...

Patents have long been regarded as the 'gold standard' of intellectual property protection. In 'Little patents and big secrets: managing intellectual property', Anton and Yao (2004) call this traditional view into question by finding that firms keep their most important innovations secret. This...

Technological change is often hypothesized as one of the main drivers of merger activities. This paper analyzes the role of technology in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) at the firm level. Based on a newly created data set that combines financial information and patent data for public limited...