Ano: 2008
Código: WPE – 148
Autores/Pesquisadores:
Abstract:
Prior literature has revealed firms’ motivations to pursue patents but there has not been any attempt to detect whether differences in the distribution of R&D expenses affects firms’ perception as to why (or not) they apply for patents. This paper thus reports the results of a new survey on patenting carried out in the UK and which investigates whether firms’ motivations to patent differ with respect to their emphasis on either research or development. Our survey provides several insights into firms’ motivations to file (or not) patents. Our results suggest that when firms focus more on research than on development patents become more relevant to increase returns from innovation. Moreover, research-oriented firms pursue patents with the purpose of having access to a foreign market more often than do development-oriented firms. Nevertheless, the former is more frequently hampered from patenting due to the amount of information disclosed than is the latter. In turn, developmentoriented firms take out patents with the purpose of increasing competitors’ inventing around costs more regularly than do research-oriented firms. Our results also revealed that development-oriented firms are more concerned about the ease with which their patents can be invented around and not being valid if contested.