| 来源类型 | Working Paper |
| 规范类型 | 报告 |
| DOI | 10.3386/w20322 |
| 来源ID | Working Paper 20322 |
| Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms | |
| Lauren Cohen; Umit Gurun; Scott Duke Kominers | |
| 发表日期 | 2014-08-14 |
| 出版年 | 2014 |
| 语种 | 英语 |
| 摘要 | We develop a theoretical model of, and provide the first large-sample evidence on, the behavior and impact of non-practicing entities (NPEs) in the intellectual property space. Our model shows that NPE litigation can reduce infringement and support small inventors. However, the model also shows that as NPEs become effective at bringing frivolous lawsuits, the resulting defense costs inefficiently crowd out some firms that, absent NPEs, would produce welfare-enhancing innovations without engaging in infringement. Our empirical analysis shows that on average, NPEs appear to behave as opportunistic patent trolls. NPEs sue cash-rich firms—a one standard deviation increase in cash holdings roughly doubles a firm's chance of being targeted by NPE litigation. We find moreover that NPEs target cash unrelated to the alleged infringement at essentially the same frequency as they target cash related to the alleged infringement. By contrast, cash is neither a key driver of intellectual property lawsuits by practicing entities (e.g., IBM and Intel), nor of any other type of litigation against firms. We find further suggestive evidence of NPE opportunism, such as forum shopping and targeting of firms that may have reduced ability to defend themselves against litigation. We find that NPE litigation has a real negative impact on innovation at targeted firms: firms substantially reduce their innovative activity after settling with NPEs (or losing to them in court). Moreover, we neither find any markers of significant NPE pass-through to end innovators, nor of a positive impact of NPEs on innovation in the industries in which they are most prevalent. |
| 主题 | Microeconomics ; Households and Firms ; Other ; Law and Economics ; Development and Growth ; Innovation and R& ; D |
| URL | https://www.nber.org/papers/w20322 |
| 来源智库 | National Bureau of Economic Research (United States) |
| 引用统计 | |
| 资源类型 | 智库出版物 |
| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/578045 |
| 推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Lauren Cohen,Umit Gurun,Scott Duke Kominers. Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms. 2014. |
| 条目包含的文件 | 条目无相关文件。 | |||||
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