From Jim Bessen" <jbessen@researchoninnovation.org  Fri Dec 14 12:28:15 2001
From: Jim Bessen" <jbessen@researchoninnovation.org (Jim Bessen)
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 07:28:15 -0500
Subject: [Patents] reasons for explosion of patent application numbers
Message-ID: <003701c1849c$d83681e0$45132818@wall1.pa.home.com>
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> There has been some talk about the explosion of pat appl numbers =
worldwide
> and one explanation is that this is largely due to the entry of new
> countries such as India, which were pushed into the worldwide system
> of extensive patenting by the TRIPS treaty.  Others say that more and
> more people are inventing things, yet another hypothesis is that =
patents
> are becoming increasingly easy to obtain for a broad range of ideas.
> Maybe all are true, but we don't know to which extent they explain the
> increase.
>

There is some academic work on this subject. Sam Kortum and Josh Lerner =
wrote a paper (NBER working paper and in Research Policy) arguing (based =
on international patenting rates) that the rise is due to better =
management of R&D. But Bronwyn Hall and Rosemarie Ziedonis [Rand, 2001] =
do a much more thorough analysis of the semiconductor industry and find =
the rise due to changes in the legal environment, especially the =
pro-patent courts.


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James Bessen
Research on Innovation
jbessen@researchoninnovation.org


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<DIV><FONT size=3D2>&gt; There has been some talk about the explosion of =
pat appl=20
numbers worldwide<BR>&gt; and one explanation is that this is largely =
due to the=20
entry of new<BR>&gt; countries such as India, which were pushed into the =

worldwide system<BR>&gt; of extensive patenting by the TRIPS =
treaty.&nbsp;=20
Others say that more and<BR>&gt; more people are inventing things, yet =
another=20
hypothesis is that patents<BR>&gt; are becoming increasingly easy to =
obtain for=20
a broad range of ideas.<BR>&gt; Maybe all are true, but we don't know to =
which=20
extent they explain the<BR>&gt; increase.<BR>&gt;<BR><BR>There is some =
academic=20
work on this subject. Sam Kortum and Josh Lerner wrote a paper (NBER =
working=20
paper and in Research Policy) arguing (based on international patenting =
rates)=20
that the rise is due to better management of R&amp;D. But Bronwyn Hall =
and=20
Rosemarie Ziedonis [Rand, 2001] do a much more thorough analysis of the=20
semiconductor industry and find the rise due to changes in the legal=20
environment, especially the pro-patent courts.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT =
size=3D2>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D<BR>James=20
Bessen<BR>Research on Innovation<BR><A=20
href=3D"mailto:jbessen@researchoninnovation.org">jbessen@researchoninnova=
tion.org</A><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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