Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/266082 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
LEM Working Paper Series No. 2022/12
Publisher: 
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Pisa
Abstract: 
The recent surge of patent disputes plays an important role in discouraging firms from entering new technology domains (TDs). Using a large-scale dataset combining data from the EPO-PATSTAT database and ORBIS-IP and containing patents applied at EPO between 2000 and 2015, we construct a new measure of litigiousness using patent opposition data. We find that the degree of litigiousness and the density of patent thickets negatively affect the likelihood of firms entering new TDs. Across technologies, the frequency of oppositions discourages firms mostly in high-tech industries. Across firms, the risk of opposition falls disproportionately on small rather than large firms. Finally, for large firms, we observe a sort of learning-by-being-opposed effect. This evidence suggests that litigiousness and hold-up potential discourage firms from entering new TDs, shaping Schumpeterian patterns of innovation characterized by a stable number of large-established firms and a lower degree of turbulence.
Subjects: 
Patent opposition
Technological entry
Innovation Strategies
JEL: 
O31
O33
O34
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
866.17 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.