Stronger Protection or Technological Revolution: What is Behind the Recent Surge in Patenting? / Samuel Kortum, Josh Lerner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kortum, Samuel.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Lerner, Josh.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w6204.

NBER working paper series no. w6204

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Stronger Protection or Technological Revolution

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1997.

Summary:

We investigate the cause of an unprecedented surge of U.S. patenting over the past" decade. Conventional wisdom points to the establishment of the Court of Appeals of the" Federal Circuit by Congress in 1982. We examine whether this institutional change benefitted patent holders, explains the burst in U.S. patenting. Using both international and" domestic data on patent applications and awards, we conclude that the evidence is not favorable" to the conventional view. Instead, it appears that the jump in patenting reflects an increase in" U.S. innovation spurred by changes in the management of research.

Notes:

Print version record

September 1997.