Optimal Patent Design and the Diffusion of Innovations

(When) Do stronger patents increase continual innovation?

“…17 Proposition 4 Assume that (11) holds at  =  *  Then, a marginal increase in  1 weakly lowers  * while a marginal increase in  weakly raises  * .…”

“…3 Thus, the important question of how patents will impact continual innovation remains unsettled. In this paper, we reconsider this issue more generally in a framework where the profit expansion and division 1 See also Chang, 1995;Matutes, et al, 1996;Van Dijk, 1996;Denicolò, 2000;and Denicolò and Zanchettin, 2002. 2 In particular, O'Donoghue et al (1998) suggests granting leading breadth while O'Donoghue (1998) proposes using a patentability requirement to stimulate R&D investment.…”

Patent Characteristics and Patent Ownership Change in Agricultural Biotechnology

“…Patent claims are an important feature of a patent since they define the technological territory protected by the patent. In the patent literature, a positive relationship between the number of patent claims and patent breadth is assumed (Matutes et al, 1996;Merges & Nelson, 1990;Miller & Davis, 1990). The number of patent claims has been used as an indicator of patent breadth in a number of patent studies.…”

“…vation protected by the patent, patent characteristics can convey useful information. Patent characteristics such as patent length (i.e., the statutory life of a patent) and patent breadth/scope (i.e., the technological territory protected by the patent) have been used in the study of optimal patent design (Gallini, 1992;Gilbert & Shapiro, 1990;Hopenhayn & Mitchell, 2001;Takalo, 2001), patenting and licensing behavior (Green & Schotchmer, 1995;Yiannaka & Fulton, 2006), the R&D process, and the pace of future innovations (Denicolo, 1996;Matutes, Regibeau, & Rocket, 1996;O'Donoghue, Scotchmer, & Thisse, 1998). A few empirical studies have tried to 'quantify' the scope/ breadth of a patent.…”

Intellectual Property and Product Market Competition Regulations in a Model with Two R&D Performing Sectors

“…The analysis of the effects of intellectual property and product market competition regulations on innovation is deeply rooted in industrial organization literature (e.g., Nordhaus, 1969, Gilbert and Shapiro, 1990, Chang, 1995, Matutes, Regibeau, and Rockett, 1996, Vives, 2008. Studies in industrial organization consider the effects of such regulations in partial equilibrium frameworks.…”