I examine the joint patent designation-renewal behavior of the EPO patent applicants during 1978 to 1996, using both nonparametric technique and a parametric model. The European patents through the EPO are substantially more valuable than patents through the national route. Value distributions...

Patent system in Europe has undergone significant changes during the 1970s around the establishment of the European Patent Office (EPO), and this paper tries to quantify the influence of such policy changes on the private value of European patents. Based on the patent renewal records, I estimate...