The impact of including standards-related documentation in patent prior art: evidence from an EPO policy change

Rudi N.A. Bekkers; Arianna Martinelli; Federico Tamagni

doi:10.1016/j.respol.2020.104007

The impact of including standards-related documentation in patent prior art: evidence from an EPO policy change

Rudi N.A. Bekkers (Corresponding author), Arianna Martinelli, Federico Tamagni

Technology, Innovation & Society

Onderzoeksoutput: Bijdrage aan tijdschrift › Tijdschriftartikel › Academic › peer review

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It is crucial that patent offices grant protection only to those inventions that are novel and non-obvious. In 2004, the European Patent Office (EPO) made the unique move to systematically extend its prior art database by including documents shared among members of standard-setting organisations, but not made available to the general audience. This paper investigates the effects of this policy change. We find that it worked thanks to a significant reduction in granting rates rather than reducing the scope of granted patents. Our study demonstrates how a targeted approach can improve the quality of the patent granting process.

Originele taal-2	Engels
Artikelnummer	104007
Aantal pagina's	17
Tijdschrift	Research Policy
Volume	49
Nummer van het tijdschrift	7
Vroegere onlinedatum	23 jun 2020
DOI's	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2020.104007
Status	Gepubliceerd - 1 sep 2020

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10.1016/j.respol.2020.104007

BRC192-2020-Bekkers-RPDefinitieve gepubliceerde versie, 1,06 MBLicentie: CC BY

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