FrontMatter -- Preface -- Contents -- Introduction--Cohen and Merrill -- Patent Quality -- Are All Patent Examiners Equal? Examiners, Patent Characteristics, and Litigation Outcomes--Cockburn, Kortum, and Stern -- Patent Examination Procedures and Patent Quality--King -- Patent Quality Control:...

In recent years, patent protection has extended into new areas, giving rise to serious concern about the lack of clear guidelines for patentability. We analyze the effect of introducing a patent opposition process that would allow patent validity to be challenged directly after a patent is...

FrontMatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Executive Summary -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Six Reasons to Pay Attention to the Patent System -- 3 Seven Criteria for Evaluating the Patent System -- 4 Seven Recommendations for a 21st-Century Patent System -- References -- Acronyms -- Law Cases Cited...

Spurred on by such reforms as the Bayh-Dole Act, which permitted institutions receiving government research funds to patent their inventions, the pro-patent movement has shaped innovation in the United States since 1980.While these pro-patent policy shifts have stimulated patenting among firms...

We analyze the effect of patenting on R&D with a model linking a firm's R&D effort with its decision to patent, recognizing that R&D and patenting affect one another and are both driven by many of the same factors. Using survey data for the U.S. manufacturing sector, we estimate the increment to...