We take a first look at financial patents at the European Patent Office (EPO). As is the case at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the number of financial patents in Europe has increased significantly in parallel with significant changes in payment and financial systems. Scholars have argued that financial patents, like other business methods patents, have low value and are owned for strategic reasons rather than for protecting real inventions. We find that established firms in non-financial sectors with diversified patent portfolios own a large share of financial patents at the EPO. However, new specialized technology providers in the financial area also hold a number of such patents. Decisions on the financial patent applications take longer and they are more likely to be refused by the patent office, suggesting greater uncertainty over validity than for other patents. They are also more likely to be opposed, which is consistent with the fact that their other economic value indicators are higher.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
14714.
Length: Date of creation: Feb 2009 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14714
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Find related papers by JEL classification: G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software O31 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives O34 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Intellectual Property Rights
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Tufano, Peter, 2003.
"Financial innovation,"
Handbook of the Economics of Finance,
in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 307-335
Elsevier.
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