The disciplinary effect of post-grant review – Causal evidence from European patent opposition

Nagler M, Sorg S (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Research Policy Elsevier

Book Volume: 49

Article Number: 103915

Journal Issue: 3

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2019.103915

Abstract

We study the causal impact of invalidating marginally valid patents during post-grant opposition at the European Patent Office on affected inventors’ subsequent patenting. We exploit exogenous variation in invalidation by leveraging the participation of a patent's original examiner in the opposition division as an instrument. We find a disciplinary effect of invalidation: Affected inventors file significantly fewer patent applications in the decade after the decision. The effect is entirely driven by a reduction in low-quality filings, i.e., filings that examiners associate with prior art that threatens the application's novelty or inventive step. We do not observe shifts into national patenting.

Authors with CRIS profile

Markus Nagler Professur für Arbeitsmarkt- und Innovationsökonomik

Involved external institutions

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition / Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Nagler, M., & Sorg, S. (2020). The disciplinary effect of post-grant review – Causal evidence from European patent opposition. Research Policy, 49(3). https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.103915

MLA:

Nagler, Markus, and Stefan Sorg. "The disciplinary effect of post-grant review – Causal evidence from European patent opposition." Research Policy 49.3 (2020).

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