This paper provides an analysis of global patenting trends using the most comprehensive data currently available. Among other things, it finds that subsequent patent filings – additional filings of the same invention, mostly in additional countries – contributed considerably to the growth in filings worldwide, pointing to globalization as one important driver of filing growth. However, no single factor can fully explain the marked increase in the use of the patent system.

In this paper, the authors describe and explore a new algorithmic approach to constructing concordances between the International Patent Classification (IPC) system and industry classification systems that organize economic data. This ‘Algorithmic Links with Probabilities’ (ALP) approach incorporates text analysis software and keyword extraction programs and applies them to a comprehensive patent dataset. The authors conclude with a discussion on some of the possible applications of the concordance and provide a sample analysis that uses their preferred ALP concordance to analyze international patent flows based on trade patterns.

This paper has two objectives. First, it describes a new database mapping migratory patterns of inventors, extracted from information included in patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. It explains in detail the information contained in the database and discusses the usefulness and reliability of the underlying data. Second, the paper provides a descriptive overview of inventor migration patterns, based on the information contained in the newly constructed database.

This paper explores the motivations of firms that disclose research outcomes in a scientific format. Besides considering an internal firm dimension, the authors focus particularly on knowledge sourcing from academic institutions and the appropriability regime using a cost-benefit framework. The analysis provides evidence that the access to important scientific knowledge imposes the adoption of academic disclosure principles, whereas the mere existence of collaborative links with academic institutions is not a strong predictor. Furthermore, the results suggest that overall industry conditions are influential in shaping the cost-benefit rationale of firms with respect to scientific disclosure.

WIPO's latest World Intellectual Property Report (WIPR) explores the role of IP at the nexus of innovation and economic growth, focusing on the impact of breakthrough innovations.

Semiconductor technology is at the origin of today’s digital economy. Its contribution to innovation, productivity and economic growth in the past four decades has been extensive. This paper analyzes how this breakthrough technology came about, how it diffused, and what role intellectual property played historically.

This paper analyzes the gender of inventors in international patent applications. We compile a worldwide gender-name dictionary, which includes 6.2 million names for 182 different countries to disambiguate the gender of PCT inventors. Our results suggest that there is a gender imbalance in PCT applications, but the proportion of women inventors is improving over time. We also find that the rates of women participation differ substantially across countries, technological fields and sectors.

This volume assembles papers commissioned by the National Research Council's Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) to inform judgments about the significant institutional and policy changes in the patent system made over the past two decades. The chapters fall into three areas. The first four chapters consider the determinants and effects of changes in patent "quality." Quality refers to whether patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) meet the statutory standards of patentability, including novelty, nonobviousness, and utility. The fifth and sixth chapters consider the growth in patent litigation, which may itself be a function of changes in the quality of contested patents. The final three chapters explore controversies associated with the extension of patents into new domains of technology, including biomedicine, software, and business methods.

This paper presents an empirical approach to identifying and ranking the world’s largest clusters of inventive activity on the basis of patent filings. Patent data offer rich information on the locality of innovative activity. Many researchers have already made use of these data to study individual clusters or selected clusters within a particular region. Our approach goes beyond existing work by identifying and ranking innovation clusters on an internationally comparable basis.

Enforceability of patent rights is the backbone of the patent system. We review differences in the way patent litigation systems are designed across jurisdictions. We also discuss challenges in collecting and accessing patent litigation data as well as their economic analysis. We provide some descriptive analysis of patent litigation in the U.S. and UK for the period 2010-2016 and 2007-2013, respectively. We also analyze administrative post-grant validity challenges in form of the inter partes review in the U.S. and oppositions at the EPO.