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Long Live Patents: the Increasing Life Expectancy of Patent Applications and its Determinants

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  • Nicolas van Zeebroeck

Abstract

Relying on a comprehensive dataset including detailed information on all patent applications filed to the EPO from 1980 to 2000 and on the renewal of those of them that were granted, this paper presents the first survival time analysis of the determinants of patent length. The results are twofold: first, they clearly establish that the life expectancy of patent rights has significantly increased over the past decades despite a small decline in the average grant rate. Second, they show that some filing strategies very strongly influence the overall length of patents, possibly due to induced delays in the examination process. This suggests that such strategies may result in higher and longer lasting legal uncertainty on the markets, with unknown consequences on the dynamic efficiency of the patent system.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas van Zeebroeck, 2011. "Long Live Patents: the Increasing Life Expectancy of Patent Applications and its Determinants," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 2(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:pia:review:v:2:y:2011:i:3:n:5
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Danguy Jérôme & van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie Bruno, 2011. "Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Community Patent," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-43, April.
    2. Ting Meng & Richard Carew & Wojciech J. Florkowski, 2020. "Determinants of the grant lag and the surrender lag of horticultural crop plant breeders’ rights applications: Survival analysis with competing risks," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 68(4), pages 489-512, December.
    3. Yagi, Michiyuki & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Shadow price of patent stock as knowledge stock: Time and country heterogeneity," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 43-61.
    4. Jérôme Danguy, 2013. "Essays on the globalization of innovation using patent-based indicators," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/209409, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Jérôme Danguy & Bruno van Pottelsberghe, 2014. "The policy dilemma of the unitary patent," Working Papers 858, Bruegel.
    6. Hong-Wen Tsai & Hui-Chung Che & Bo Bai, 2022. "Longer Patent Life Representing Higher Value? A Study on China Stock Market and China Patents," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 115-136.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    patent length; patent value; renewals; granting process; survival time analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General

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