Experience effects of patent examiners: an empirical study of the career length and citation patterns on triadic patents

Tetsuo Wada ()
Additional contact information
Tetsuo Wada: Gakushuin University

Scientometrics, 2024, vol. 129, issue 10, No 25, 6333-6348

Abstract: Abstract Does a patent examiner rely more on external sources of information for prior art searches as the examiner becomes more experienced? This question is relevant to the policy debate because studies confirm that the seniority of examiners is associated with higher patent allowance rate in the U.S. However, little is known to date about how examiners’ citation behavior, particularly search behavior, is related to their experience. This paper first describes how examiner experience is related to the rate of patent allowance and repeated use of prior citations by the same examiner. Next, this paper analyzes how examiner experience is related to the extent of receiving spillover at the USPTO and the JPO. This paper uses an empirical methodology to identify examination spillovers from the European Patent Office (EPO) search result to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and also to the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in the sense that patent citations for rejection of a patent application tend to be “adopted” at a later office after the EPO issues search reports. The results show that more experienced examiners exhibit greater convergence of patent citations at the USPTO and at the JPO with the search report outcome at the EPO, although the spillover effect also depends on international patent application routes, such as the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Keywords: Examiner citation; Examination spillover; Rejection citation; Patent family; Trilateral offices; Triadic patent; 91D30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K29 O33 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-024-05037-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:scient:v:129:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s11192-024-05037-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11192

DOI: 10.1007/s11192-024-05037-9

Access Statistics for this article

Scientometrics is currently edited by Wolfgang Glänzel

More articles in Scientometrics from Springer, Akadémiai Kiadó
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().