Patents and the Success of Venture-Capital Backed Startups: Using Examiner Assignment to Estimate Causal Effects

Patrick Gaulé

CERGE-EI Working Papers from The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague

Abstract: I study how patents affect firm success (initial public offering or acquisition at a high price) in a sample of 2,191 U.S. startups applying for patent protection in the 24 months following their first round of venture capital funding. I observe both successful and unsuccessful patent applications and use a measure of patent exam- iner leniency as an instrument for getting patents. I find a positive effect of patents on firm success for life science firms but not for information technology firms.

Keywords: patents; entrepreneurship; venture capital; patent examiners; acquisition; initial public offering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G24 L26 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cfn, nep-ent, nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-pr~ and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Patents and the Success of Venture‐Capital Backed Startups: Using Examiner Assignment to Estimate Causal Effects (2018)
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