When small is beautiful: measuring the evolution and consequences of the voluminosity of patent applications at the EPO

Eugenio Archontopoulos (), Dominique Guellec (), Niels Stevnsborg (), Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie and Nicolas van Zeebroeck ()
Additional contact information
Dominique Guellec: OECD -DSTI, Paris.
Niels Stevnsborg: European Patent Office, The Netherlands.

No 06-019.RS, Working Papers CEB from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Centre Emile Bernheim (CEB)

Abstract: The joint increase in the number and size of patents filed around the world puts patent systems under pressure.This paper addresses issues in measuring the voluminosity of patent applications and highlights patterns in its evolution. The results – based on a 2 million EPO applications database – show that the average size of applications has doubled over the past 20 years and that it is mainly associated with PCT applications having a US priority. Voluminosity indicators are also influenced by geographical origins and technological areas and strongly impact the workload of the EPO, justifying the need for regulatory and policy actions.

Keywords: Patent drafting; patent voluminosity; patent applications; patent statistics; patent systems; workload. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O34 O50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino and nep-tid
Date: 2006-11
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http://www.solvay.edu/EN/Research/Bernheim/documents/wp06019.pdf Published version, 2008 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: When Small is Beautiful: Measuring the Evolution and Consequences of the Voluminosity of Patent Applications at the EPO (2006)
Journal Article: When small is beautiful: Measuring the evolution and consequences of the voluminosity of patent applications at the EPO (2007)
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