First-mover advantages before and after TRIPS: Evidence from the Indian pharmaceutical industry
Description
For many years, debates over the effectiveness of the patent system have centered on the issue of “patent quality.” The perceived decline in patent quality over the past decade or two is often argued to have adversely affected innovation by increasing licensing and litigation costs, as well as by discouraging sequential innovation across industries. However, the concept of “patent quality” is inherently context-dependent and may vary in meaning across different users and applications. This paper presents the first large-scale analysis of changes in patent application and granted patent scope by examining modifications to independent claims during the patent examination process. Our findings indicate that applications with narrower claims at the time of publication are more likely to be granted than those with broader claims. Furthermore, such applications tend to require less time for examination compared to those with broader independent claims. We also find that the examination process itself systematically narrows independent claims and reduces their number between the stages of publication and grant. These results provide important insights into how patent scope evolves during examination and contribute to a more nuanced understanding of patent quality.
Copyright Date
January 2016
Publication Date
1-1-2016
Keywords
Pharmaceutical industry
Conference
11th January, 2016, Stanford University, Hoover Institution, USA
