Patents and corporate credit risk

A vast literature documents a positive relationship between patents and companies stock market performance. Nevertheless, evidence on the influence of patents on companies’ debt capacity remains sparse. In this article, we examine the relationship between companies’ patent portfolios and their credi...

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Bibliografiske detaljer
Main Authors: Frey, C, Neuhäusler, N, Blind, N
Format: Journal article
Sprog:English
Udgivet: Oxford University Press 2019
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author Frey, C
Neuhäusler, N
Blind, N
author_facet Frey, C
Neuhäusler, N
Blind, N
author_sort Frey, C
collection OXFORD
description A vast literature documents a positive relationship between patents and companies stock market performance. Nevertheless, evidence on the influence of patents on companies’ debt capacity remains sparse. In this article, we examine the relationship between companies’ patent portfolios and their credit rating, providing relevant, albeit indirect, evidence on patents as a debt funding mechanism. Using a panel dataset on 155 U.S. firms, we find a positive relationship between companies’ credit rating and the size of their patent portfolio. Our indicators for valuable patents, however, provide a mixed picture. While there is a positive link between the average family size of a company’s patent portfolio and its credit ratings, we surprisingly find a significant negative relationship between patent forward citations and companies ratings. We hypothesize that this finding is the result of citations being associated with patent lawsuits, potentially incurring substantial losses on creditors.
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spelling oxford-uuid:afa1601c-51b3-4ae2-8795-6b29e090503f2022-03-27T03:50:47ZPatents and corporate credit riskJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:afa1601c-51b3-4ae2-8795-6b29e090503fEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordOxford University Press2019Frey, CNeuhäusler, NBlind, NA vast literature documents a positive relationship between patents and companies stock market performance. Nevertheless, evidence on the influence of patents on companies’ debt capacity remains sparse. In this article, we examine the relationship between companies’ patent portfolios and their credit rating, providing relevant, albeit indirect, evidence on patents as a debt funding mechanism. Using a panel dataset on 155 U.S. firms, we find a positive relationship between companies’ credit rating and the size of their patent portfolio. Our indicators for valuable patents, however, provide a mixed picture. While there is a positive link between the average family size of a company’s patent portfolio and its credit ratings, we surprisingly find a significant negative relationship between patent forward citations and companies ratings. We hypothesize that this finding is the result of citations being associated with patent lawsuits, potentially incurring substantial losses on creditors.
spellingShingle Frey, C
Neuhäusler, N
Blind, N
Patents and corporate credit risk
title Patents and corporate credit risk
title_full Patents and corporate credit risk
title_fullStr Patents and corporate credit risk
title_full_unstemmed Patents and corporate credit risk
title_short Patents and corporate credit risk
title_sort patents and corporate credit risk
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