Time in Purgatory: Determinants of the Grant Lag for U.S. Patent Applications / David Popp, Ted Juhl, Daniel K.N. Johnson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Popp, David.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Juhl, Ted.

Johnson, Daniel K.N.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w9518.

NBER working paper series no. w9518

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Time in Purgatory

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2003.

Summary:

The impacts of two recent changes in US patent policy depend on the length of time it takes for an invention to go through the examination process. Concerns over the distributional effects of these changes were expressed during policy debates. We use data on U.S. patent applications and grants to determine the factors influencing the length of the patent examination process. We augment this analysis with interviews of patent examiners, leading to a better understanding of the examination process. Our analysis finds that differences across technology are most important. Inventor characteristics have statistically significant effects, but the magnitudes are small.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2003.