The puzzle of patent value indicators

Nicolas van Zeebroeck ()

No 07-023.RS, Working Papers CEB from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Business School, Centre Emile Bernheim (CEB)

Abstract: This paper reviews and analyses several issues in the measurement and interpretation of patent value indicators over a large database. Each of the five most classical indicators proposed in the literature (family sizes, renewals, grant decision outcomes, forward citations, and oppositions) witnesses the well-known properties of patent value: a severe skewness and significant country and technology variations. Nonetheless, a high degree of orthogonality appears between them as well as opposite trends in their evolution, suggesting that they actually capture different dimensions of a patent’s value and therefore do not always pinpoint the same patents as being the most valuable. To maximize the chances of capturing all potentially valuable patents in a large database, a composite index is proposed, which reflects the intensity of the patent value signal provided by all five constituting indicators. Its declining trend reflects a rarefaction of this signal on average, leading to different plausible int erpretations.

Keywords: Patent value; Families; Renewals; Oppositions; Citations (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-ipr
Date: 2007-08
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