We analyze the impact of the probabilistic nature of patents on the functioning of Germany’s bifurcated patent litigation system where infringement and validity of a patent are decided independently by different courts. We show that bifurcation creates situations in which a patent is held...

Europe#s innovation potential is currently dominated by well-established large companies. In most member countries the bulk of R&D expenditures is spend by large companies. Following OECD data, SME's share in total R&D spending amount to 8% in Germany or Japan, around 15% in US, France, Korea or...

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...