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Is It Worth All the Trouble? An Assessment of the Economic Value of Firm Patent Applications with Shared Intellectual Property Rights in the Biotechnology Industry

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Technology Transfer in a Global Economy

Part of the book series: International Studies in Entrepreneurship ((ISEN,volume 28))

Abstract

Shared intellectual property rights are connected with complex legal issues and therefore organizations (e.g. firms) that apply for patents have a strong incentive to avoid co-ownership on their patents. In contrast to this the share of EPO firm patent applications with a joint ownership has increased in the biotechnology industry during the last two decades as it has been observed in other industries. From this the question has to be forced, whether joint patent applications are associated with a higher economic potential compared to the patents with no joint ownership so that firms are willing to cope with the legal issues that are associated with shared intellectual property rights on patents. We measure the economic value of a patent by the number of subsequent citations it has received and empirically address this question by the application of a nonparametric matching approach on patent level. We show that there exists a positive causal relationship between the decision of a firm to jointly apply for a patent and the future economic value that is associated with the regarded patent.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For example, the development of new drugs.

  2. 2.

    We use the term “joint patent” synonymously with the term “patents with shared intellectual property rights” throughout the whole chapter.

  3. 3.

    We like to thank the European Patent Office and the Centre of European Economic Research (ZEW) in providing the biotech patent data.

  4. 4.

    Other methods to proxy the economic value of patents have been suggested; for an overview regarding the biotechnological industry, see Albino et al. (2010).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Thorsten Doherr (ZEW), Georg Licht (ZEW), and Christoph Lange (University of Bonn) for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Working Group of Genomic Mathematics, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, Bonn, 53127, Germany

    Heide Fier

  2. University of Hohenheim, Wollgrasweg 23, Stuttgart, 70599, Germany

    Andreas Pyka

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  1. Heide Fier
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  2. Andreas Pyka
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Correspondence to Heide Fier .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Institute of Development Strategies, Indiana University, East 10th Street 1315, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    David B. Audretsch

  2. , Department of Management & Organization, University of Augsburg, Universitaetsstr. 16, Augsburg, 86159, Germany

    Erik E. Lehmann

  3. , Department of Economics, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, 27402, North Carolina, USA

    Albert N. Link

  4. , Department of Business Administration, University of Augsburg, Universitaetsstr. 16, Augsburg, 86159, Germany

    Alexander Starnecker

Appendix

Appendix

Table 8.5 Full matching results
Full size table

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Fier, H., Pyka, A. (2012). Is It Worth All the Trouble? An Assessment of the Economic Value of Firm Patent Applications with Shared Intellectual Property Rights in the Biotechnology Industry. In: Audretsch, D., Lehmann, E., Link, A., Starnecker, A. (eds) Technology Transfer in a Global Economy. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 28. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6102-9_8

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