Using three measurements of patent quality, we argue that there is still room for China to improve its innovative activities. Comparing the number of patent applications and patent grants across countries, we see that although the United States and Japan have been global leaders in innovation...

In this paper, we offer a novel explanation to the surge in patenting bserved during the last years. With low patentability standards at PTOs (Patent and Trademark Offices awarding so-called bad patents), not only “false innovators” have the chance of being granted patents but also, and more...

Novelty value is one of the legal requirements for a patentable innovation but it has been given relatively little attention in the literature. It is often abstracted away by assuming that any innovation is patentable. We study the optimal novelty requirement in a model where ideas are scarce,...