Construction of a Patent Value Index by measuring of indirect economic and technological value

Abstract

The present research intends to create an index of indirect economic (through patent family size and paid renewals) and technological value (forward citations), in order to identify possible innovations among inventions. The novelty of the research lies on the construction of equations reproducible by any field of knowledge, due to their intelligibility. In addition, it details the different steps to create the search database, which comprises free resources, trial versions and personal effort. After the construction of the index and its application, the patent population was divided into quartiles. Quartile 1 possibly houses innovation patents, as it was found that the value indicators assessed go together and relate to each other. Their behavior was shown to be such that, when one is present, there is a higher chance of the others appearing as well. The logical justification for this is that, if an invention has broad market potential, depositors will also protect the patent outside their own country; the most practical way of doing so is the Patent Cooperation Treaty application. Thus, the higher the number of countries where a patent is published and translated, the more likely it is to be cited. And if by then patents prove somehow profitable for their holders, they will continue to pay for renewals on time. This index is configured as a decision-supporting tool that seeks to rely on qualitative and strategic information.