Knowledge Creates Markets: The Influence of Entrepreneurial Support and Patent Rights on Academic Entrepreneurship

in European Economic Review (2016)

The Value of Disclosing IPR to Open Standard Setting Organizations

in Industry and Innovation (2015)

R&D Collaboration with Uncertain Intellectual Property Rights

in Review of Industrial Organization (2015), 46(2), 183-204

Patent pendencies create uncertainty in research and development (R&D) collaboration, which can result in a threat of expropriation of unprotected knowledge, reduced bargaining power and enhanced search ... [more ▼]

Patent pendencies create uncertainty in research and development (R&D) collaboration, which can result in a threat of expropriation of unprotected knowledge, reduced bargaining power and enhanced search costs. We show that - depending of the type of collaboration partner and the size of the company - uncertain intellectual property rights (IPR) lead to reduced collaboration between firms and can, hence, hinder knowledge production. This has implications for technology policy as R&D collaborations are exempt from antitrust legislation in order to increase R&D in the economy. We argue that a functional IPR system is needed for successful utilization of this policy. [less ▲]

Resource Complementarity and Value Capture in Firm Acquisitions: The Role of Intellectual Property Rights

in Strategic Management Journal (2014)

Extant literature holds that firm acquisitions create value through innovation if the knowledge bases of the acquirer and the target complement each other. Little is known about the value that patents ... [more ▼]

Extant literature holds that firm acquisitions create value through innovation if the knowledge bases of the acquirer and the target complement each other. Little is known about the value that patents associated with a target’s knowledge convey to the acquirer, i.e., their value in securing market exclusion and freedom to operate in R&D. We argue that such property rights hold preemptive power allowing firms to capture the value from combining complementary technologies and to realize gains from trade in strategic factor markets. Our results for a sample of 1,428 acquisitions indicate that—controlling for technological value—acquired preemptive power is an important determinant of the acquisition price, particularly when the acquirer is technology intensive and acquired patents are highly related to the acquirer’s knowledge base. [less ▲]

Formal and Informal Technology Transfer from Academia to Industry: Complementarity Effects and Innovation Performance

in Industry and Innovation (2013)

Insider Trading and the Patent Application Process

Scientific Conference (2013)

How valuable are Patent Blocking Strategies?

Scientific Conference (2013)

Resource Complementarity and Value Capture in Firm Acquisitions: The Role of Intellectual Property Rights

Scientific Conference (2013)

Corporate Science in the Patent System: An Analysis of the Semiconductor Technology

in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (2012)

Corporate scientific publications are often presented as a strategic means for firms to create prior art with the objective to prevent others from patenting related inventions. This presumes that ... [more ▼]

Corporate scientific publications are often presented as a strategic means for firms to create prior art with the objective to prevent others from patenting related inventions. This presumes that corporate publications enter the pool of prior art which is relevant to judge the novelty of patent applications at the patent office and that corporate science has the power to block patent applications. This paper analyses for the first time whether the presumed mechanism behind corporate publications as a means to preempt patents works. With a focus on the semiconductor technology, our results show that scientific publications by corporations challenge the novelty of patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) significantly more than other pieces of prior art. Detailed information from the EPO patent examination procedure allows us to show that corporate publications threaten the novelty of patent applications if combined with other pieces of prior art like patents rather than as standalone documents. This supports the claim that corporate scientific publishing can be an effective means for firms to protect their freedom to operate if used as a complementary part of a firm’s overall IP protection strategy. [less ▲]

The Nexus between Science and Industry: Evidence from Faculty Inventions

in Journal of Technology Transfer (2012)

Knowledge transfer from science to industry has been shown to be beneficial for the corporate partner. In order to get a better understanding of the reasons behind these positive effects, this study ... [more ▼]

Knowledge transfer from science to industry has been shown to be beneficial for the corporate partner. In order to get a better understanding of the reasons behind these positive effects, this study focuses on the junction of science and industry by comparing characteristics of academic inventions that are transferred to industry and those staying in the public sector. Academic inventions are identified via patent applications of German academic scientists. We find that academic patents assigned to corporations are more likely to enable firms reaping short term rather than, possibly more uncertain, long-run returns, in contrast to patents that stay in the public sector. Firms also strive for academic inventions with a high blocking potential in technology markets. Academic patents issued to corporations appear to reflect less complex inventions as compared to inventions that are patented by the public science sector. [less ▲]