Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/106797 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 15-007
Publisher: 
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), Mannheim
Abstract: 
We examine how the ownership of intellectual property rights influences patenting of university-discovered inventions. In 2002, Germany transferred patent rights from faculty members to their universities. To identify the effect on the volume of patenting, we exploit the researcher-level exogeneity of the 2002 policy change using a novel researcher-level panel database that includes a control group not affected by the law change. For professors who had existing industry connections, the policy decreased patenting, but for those without prior industry connections, it increased patenting. Overall, fewer university inventions were patented following the shift from inventor to institutional ownership.
Subjects: 
intellectual property
patents
technology transfer
policy evaluation
JEL: 
O38
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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