Patent Acquisitions under Uncertainty: The Case of Requests for Examination

Under the Japanese patent system, an applicant has to request examination within a given period of time after application. This paper studies the timing of a request for examination when return on patent is uncertain. When a firm files a patent application, it acquires a timing option limited for a fixed period and can exercise it at anytime. After modeling a real options model of the request for examination, we estimate it based on micro patent application data. The paper finds that the request for examination is deferred when uncertainty increases. We also find that the probability of requesting examination rises as the time limit approaches since the option value declines with time and falls down to zero at the time limit.