How Valuable is Patent Protection? Estimates By Technology Field Using Patent Renewal Data / Mark Schankerman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schankerman, Mark.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w3780.

NBER working paper series no. w3780

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1991.

Summary:

This paper presents quantitative estimates of the private value of property rights conferred by patent protection for different technology fields and countries of ownership. The measures are derived from parametric estimation of a model of patent renewal, using a new data set on patent renewals in France during the period 1969-1987. The results show that patent protection is a significant, but not the major, source of private returns to inventive activity and that its importance varies sharply across technology fields. The paper quantifies the equivalent subsidy to R&D generated by the patent system, characterizes variations in the value of patent rights across technology fields, countries of ownership and time, and explores the determinants of those differences.

Notes:

Print version record

July 1991.