Technological competition and patent strategy: Protecting innovation, preempting rivals and defending the freedom to operate
Riccardo Cappelli,
Marco Corsino,
Keld Laursen and
Salvatore Torrisi
Research Policy, 2023, vol. 52, issue 6
Abstract:
Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we examine the effect of technological competition over a patent on the firm's choice of patenting strategy. We claim that technological competition makes the traditional strategy of protecting focal innovations from imitation less likely and increases the likelihood of a play strategy — i.e. using patents to avoid the risk of hold-up by other patent owners, or as a bargaining chip in litigation and cross-licensing. However, we claim also that technological competition over a target close to the firm's core technology should lead to use of a fence strategy i.e. to blocking the commercial endeavors of rivals and preempting substitute inventions. We find support for our hypotheses using data from a large-scale survey of European patent applications.
Keywords: Technological competition; Intellectual property management; Patent strategy; Appropriability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L24 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:6:s0048733323000690
DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104785
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