Appropriability and basicness of R&D: Identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent data

We present a database that classifies all patent applications filed at either the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the European Patent Office (EPO) as being either product patents, process patents or ‘mixed patents’. We use the share of claims that refer to either product or proc...

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Main Authors: Sebastian Heinrich, Florian Seliger, Martin Wörter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9377595/?tool=EBI
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author Sebastian Heinrich
Florian Seliger
Martin Wörter
author_facet Sebastian Heinrich
Florian Seliger
Martin Wörter
author_sort Sebastian Heinrich
collection DOAJ
description We present a database that classifies all patent applications filed at either the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the European Patent Office (EPO) as being either product patents, process patents or ‘mixed patents’. We use the share of claims that refer to either product or process inventions which allows to classify all patent applications along a continuum of pure process patents and pure product patents. We find that process-oriented patents draw more on previous knowledge, are more original and more radical than product patents. Lower breadth of protection is positively associated with pure process patenting, whereas product and mixed variants can be protected more broadly. This characterisation uncovers heterogeneity of patented inventions that allows for a more sophisticated use of patent statistics. It can improve the accuracy of analyses, but also reveal new aspects related to property rights.
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spelling doaj.art-a4caabd02c37444bb2509606c2b6caa42022-12-22T03:44:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01178Appropriability and basicness of R&D: Identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent dataSebastian HeinrichFlorian SeligerMartin WörterWe present a database that classifies all patent applications filed at either the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the European Patent Office (EPO) as being either product patents, process patents or ‘mixed patents’. We use the share of claims that refer to either product or process inventions which allows to classify all patent applications along a continuum of pure process patents and pure product patents. We find that process-oriented patents draw more on previous knowledge, are more original and more radical than product patents. Lower breadth of protection is positively associated with pure process patenting, whereas product and mixed variants can be protected more broadly. This characterisation uncovers heterogeneity of patented inventions that allows for a more sophisticated use of patent statistics. It can improve the accuracy of analyses, but also reveal new aspects related to property rights.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9377595/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Sebastian Heinrich
Florian Seliger
Martin Wörter
Appropriability and basicness of R&D: Identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent data
PLoS ONE
title Appropriability and basicness of R&D: Identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent data
title_full Appropriability and basicness of R&D: Identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent data
title_fullStr Appropriability and basicness of R&D: Identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent data
title_full_unstemmed Appropriability and basicness of R&D: Identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent data
title_short Appropriability and basicness of R&D: Identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent data
title_sort appropriability and basicness of r d identifying and characterising product and process inventions in patent data
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9377595/?tool=EBI
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