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Business Method Patents in Europe and their Strategic Use – Evidence from Franking Device Manufacturers

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  • Stefan Wagner

    (LMU München)

Abstract

There has been a wide-spread misconception based on the imprecise wording of Art. 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) that the protection of business methods by patents is prohibited in Europe. This paper investigates the legal framework set by patent laws with respect to the patentability of business methods, contrasting the situation in Europe and the situation in the US. It is shown that in praxi business methods have never been excluded from patentability in Europe. Further, 1,901 European patent applications relating to business methods are found by identifying European equivalents to granted USPTO patents filed in US Class 705 (i.e. business method patents). The computation of major patent indicators reveals that European applications for business method patents differ from the average of all EPO patent applications with respect to the number of claims, the number of references made and the frequency of legal actions against granted patents. Additionally, a case study from the franking device industry gives evidence of the strategic use of business method patents leading to comparably high opposition rates against 44% of all granted patents.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Wagner, 2004. "Business Method Patents in Europe and their Strategic Use – Evidence from Franking Device Manufacturers," Law and Economics 0410003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwple:0410003
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    Cited by:

    1. Nicolas van Zeebroeck & Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, 2011. "Filing strategies and patent value," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 539-561, February.
    2. Mari Komulainen & Tuomas Takalo, 2013. "Does State Street Lead to Europe? The Case of Financial Exchange Innovations," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 19(3), pages 521-557, June.
    3. Nicolas van Zeebroeck, 2011. "The puzzle of patent value indicators," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 33-62.
    4. Robert M. Hunt, 2010. "Business Method Patents And U.S. Financial Services," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(3), pages 322-352, July.
    5. Stefan Wagner, 2009. "Patente in der europäischen Finanzindustrie: terra incognita?," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 78(1), pages 156-166.
    6. Nicolas van Zeebroeck, 2007. "Patents only live twice: a patent survival analysis in Europe," Working Papers CEB 07-028.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2009. "Business And Financial Method Patents, Innovation, And Policy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(4), pages 443-473, September.
    8. Wagner, S. & Cockburn, I., 2010. "Patents and the survival of Internet-related IPOs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 214-228, March.
    9. Rockett, Katharine, 2010. "Property Rights and Invention," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 315-380, Elsevier.
    10. Bronwyn H. Hall & Grid Thoma & Salvatore Torrisi, 2009. "Financial Patenting in Europe," NBER Working Papers 14714, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Rentocchini, Francesco, 2011. "Sources and characteristics of software patents in the European Union: Some empirical considerations," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 141-157, March.
    12. Kulins, Christopher & Leonardy, Hannes & Weber, Christiana, 2016. "A configurational approach in business model design," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 1437-1441.
    13. Yoonjung An & Mintak Han & Yongtae Park, 2017. "Identifying dynamic knowledge flow patterns of business method patents with a hidden Markov model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 783-802, November.
    14. Chang, Shann-Bin, 2012. "Using patent analysis to establish technological position: Two different strategic approaches," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 3-15.
    15. Mun, Changbae & Kim, Yongmin & Yoo, Donghyun & Yoon, Sejun & Hyun, Heesu & Raghavan, Nagarajan & Park, Hyunseok, 2019. "Discovering business diversification opportunities using patent information and open innovation cases," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 144-154.
    16. Desyllas, Panos & Sako, Mari, 2013. "Profiting from business model innovation: Evidence from Pay-As-You-Drive auto insurance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 101-116.
    17. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2009. "Business And Financial Method Patents, Innovation, And Policy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(s1), pages 443-473, September.
    18. Bruno Rossignoli & Francesca Arnaboldi, 2009. "Financial innovation: theoretical issues and empirical evidence in Italy and in the UK," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 56(3), pages 275-301, September.
    19. Jiaming Jiang & Rajeev K. Goel & Xingyuan Zhang, 2019. "Knowledge flows from business method software patents: influence of firms’ global social networks," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 1070-1096, August.

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