Determinants of quadic patenting: Market access, imitative threat, competition and strength of intellectual property rights

Abstract

This paper analyzes firms' decisions to seek intellectual property rights in global markets, particularly in China. We introduce the notion of a ‘quadic patent,’ defined as a patent family that consists of patent applications filed at the European Patent Office, the Japanese Patent Office, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the national patent office of a fourth country. We examine the determinants of quadic patenting at the industry level for China, and at the country level for a sample of 38 countries. Our results indicate that quadic patenting is driven by the need to access markets, respond to imitative threats, and compete in product markets.