The impacts of two recent changes in US patent policy depend on the length of time it takes for an invention to go through the examination process. Concerns over the distributional effects of these changes were expressed during policy debates. We use data on U.S. patent applications and grants to determine the factors influencing the length of the patent examination process. We augment this analysis with interviews of patent examiners, leading to a better understanding of the examination process. Our analysis finds that differences across technology are most important. Inventor characteristics have statistically significant effects, but the magnitudes are small.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
9518.
Length: Date of creation: Mar 2003 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9518
Note: PR Contact details of provider: Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. Phone: 617-868-3900 Email: Web page: http://www.nber.org More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().
Related research
Keywords:
Find related papers by JEL classification: O3 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change O32 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978.
"Regression Quantiles,"
Econometrica,
Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)