How to play the “Names Game”: Patent retrieval comparing different heuristics

Julio Raffo and Stéphane Lhuillery ()
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Stéphane Lhuillery: Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation, MTEI, CDM, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

CEMI Working Papers from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Collège du Management de la Technologie, Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship Institute, Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation

Abstract: Patent statistics represent a critical tool for scholars, statisticians and policy makers interested in innovation and intellectual property rights. Many analyses are based on heterogeneous methods delineating the inventors’ or firms’ patent portfolios without questioning the quality of the method employed. We assess different heuristics in order to provide a robust solution to automatically retrieve inventors in large patent datasets (PATSTAT). The solution we propose reduces the usual errors by 50% and casts doubts on the reliability of statistical indicators and micro-econometric results based on common matching procedures. Guidelines for researchers, TTOs, firms, venture capitalists and policy makers likely to implement a names game or to comment on results based on a names game are also provided.

Keywords: patents; inventors; names; matching algorithm; indicators; PATSTAT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C63 C81 C88 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp, nep-ino, nep-ipr and nep-pr~
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Journal Article: How to play the "Names Game": Patent retrieval comparing different heuristics (2009)
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