The "strength" of patent systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: de Rassenfosse, Gaetan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author de Rassenfosse, Gaetan
author_facet de Rassenfosse, Gaetan
contents Patent systems vary widely in how rigorously they define and enforce inventors' rights. On one hand, formal statutes ("law on the books") set the scope of what can be patented and outline procedural safeguards. On the other hand, actual enforcement ("law in practice") determines whether those rights hold up in practice. To capture these dimensions, researchers have developed simple indices of legal provisions and more nuanced proxies for enforcement effectiveness, along with metrics of how applicant-friendly each office's procedures are. Comparative studies of "twin patents" -- identical inventions filed in multiple jurisdictions -- reveal systematic differences in grant rates and bar heights across major offices. By combining these approaches, we gain a multifaceted view of patent-system strength that balances statutory design, administrative practice, and actual enforcement. This perspective is crucial for understanding how different regimes support innovation and shape global knowledge flows.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_07121
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The "strength" of patent systems
de Rassenfosse, Gaetan
General Economics
Economics
Patent systems vary widely in how rigorously they define and enforce inventors' rights. On one hand, formal statutes ("law on the books") set the scope of what can be patented and outline procedural safeguards. On the other hand, actual enforcement ("law in practice") determines whether those rights hold up in practice. To capture these dimensions, researchers have developed simple indices of legal provisions and more nuanced proxies for enforcement effectiveness, along with metrics of how applicant-friendly each office's procedures are. Comparative studies of "twin patents" -- identical inventions filed in multiple jurisdictions -- reveal systematic differences in grant rates and bar heights across major offices. By combining these approaches, we gain a multifaceted view of patent-system strength that balances statutory design, administrative practice, and actual enforcement. This perspective is crucial for understanding how different regimes support innovation and shape global knowledge flows.
title The "strength" of patent systems
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.07121