Sources and characteristics of software patents in the European Union: some empirical considerations
Sources and characteristics of software patents in the European Union: some empirical considerations
Software patenting is an increasingly important phenomenon in the European Union. Using a novel database of more than 30,000 software patents granted to both European and Non-European companies, we investigate the relevant factors explaining firm-level software patenting at the European Patent Office. We find that software patents are mainly applied for by American and Japanese firms, that they are characterised by a higher than average length of the granting procedure and that firms belonging to the software sector generally do not apply for them. Finally, results from non-linear panel data estimation reveal that patents are not deemed as useful appropriability instruments by software firms and that a “threat effect” by hardware firms is growing in importance. This last result is in line with recent developments in the literature relative to strategic patenting.
software patents, intellectual property rights, innovation epo
141-168
Rentocchini, Francesco
8ee609a8-8a3f-4a86-94be-5050f7d8c1cb
March 2011
Rentocchini, Francesco
8ee609a8-8a3f-4a86-94be-5050f7d8c1cb
Rentocchini, Francesco
(2011)
Sources and characteristics of software patents in the European Union: some empirical considerations.
Information Economics and Policy, 23 (1), .
(doi:10.1016/j.infoecopol.2010.12.002).
Abstract
Software patenting is an increasingly important phenomenon in the European Union. Using a novel database of more than 30,000 software patents granted to both European and Non-European companies, we investigate the relevant factors explaining firm-level software patenting at the European Patent Office. We find that software patents are mainly applied for by American and Japanese firms, that they are characterised by a higher than average length of the granting procedure and that firms belonging to the software sector generally do not apply for them. Finally, results from non-linear panel data estimation reveal that patents are not deemed as useful appropriability instruments by software firms and that a “threat effect” by hardware firms is growing in importance. This last result is in line with recent developments in the literature relative to strategic patenting.
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Published date: March 2011
Keywords:
software patents, intellectual property rights, innovation epo
Organisations:
Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 357281
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/357281
ISSN: 0167-6245
PURE UUID: db58c0d4-9fa3-4ef9-b84a-0d2b5dbb390e
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Date deposited: 04 Oct 2013 15:28
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 14:57
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