High backward-citation patent scores indicated that inventive firms had positive prospects for future returns (as evidenced by their Tobin's <I>q</I> ratios) because patents incorporating substantial external knowledge were also broadly-cited. Results suggested a three-year lag in the market's positive...</i>

Patterns of patents' backward citations were used to test a new patent-score measure that suggested whether post-acquisition synergies had been realized (based on improvements in firms' patent scores after making acquisitions). We argue that where firms' post-acquisition patent scores showed...