Are there enduring patents?

Elliot Noma and Dominic Olivastro

Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 1985, vol. 36, issue 5, 297-301

Abstract: U.S. patents (and the technology they represent) age and eventually become obsolete. In this diachronous study, the citations by patents in a given year are compared to the number in subsequent years. The major findings are that, even though influential patents remain influential as they age, both highly and infrequently cited patents age at the same rate. This means that citations do not automatically beget more citations, and without this bandwagon effect, no patents are enduring. In addition, the distribution of patents by number of citations received is stable over time (here, in each year they are distributed as a negative binomial).

Date: 1985
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jamest:v:36:y:1985:i:5:p:297-301

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