International Patenting Activity Research Articles

Research and Analysis of International Patent Activity in the Field of Green Technology

The subject matter of this article is the green technology and its protection as intellectual property objects, more particularly as invention. The analysis will focus on green technology in agriculture and the economic development of the countries over the last two decades due to these technologies. The article indicates the essence of green technologies and the areas of application of the technology, mainly in agriculture. A profile of the enterprises developing green technologies has been made. The results of the performed patent research are analysed, and the top applicants/owners of patents are identified. The filed national and international applications for inventions and the issued patents in the field of green technologies are deduced on country/territory bases. The Influence of green technologies on the development of new plant varieties is also analysed. The thesis of the present study is that one of the important factors for achieving and maintaining economic development and competitiveness of enterprises in today's competitive environment is the creation of innovative products in the field of green technology and their protection as a patent for an invention.

Examination of related diversification in laggard regions

AbstractIn regions of meagre technology and market activities, traditional innovation metrics (patents and trademarks filed at international offices) may provide limited insight of the mechanisms of regional diversification and therefore policies, including smart specialization. We argue that in such regions, innovation activity, of lower value, can become the seed needed to grow to innovation of international calibre. We provide support by examining both domestic and international patent and trademark activity for Greece's NUTS 3 regions during 2000–2016. We further implement the principle of relatedness and show that regions with related technology (market) capabilities are more likely to exhibit new technology (market) specializations.

Nanotechnology and Protection of Intellectual Property: Emerging Trends.

Technology experts foresee that nanotechnology is the next industrial revolution and it has great potential to bring solutions to many challenges of global relevance in terms of a diverse range of applications. Efficiency-driven economies are transforming into innovation-driven economies where Intellectual Property (IP) plays a pivotal role in achieving a competitive advantage. Whereas industry analysts assert that IP roadblocks will be a severe detriment to the development of nanotechnology due to infringements and high-profile patent battles. Various authors have made a significant effort to analyse the implications of IP on nanotechnology but most of the published literature covers only the years 2000- 2010. Data and insights pertaining to recent developments are lagging behind. Therefore, the objective of this review was to explore cutting-edge empirical evidence towards emerging trends of Intellectual Property protection in nanotechnology, thereby to provide insights aimed at unleashing the full potential of nanotechnology innovation for socio-economic advantage. Patent information over the period 2000 to 2018 was collated and analysed to determine the latest trends. To gain a global perspective, nanotechnology patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and nanotechnology patents published in the 'PatentScope' of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) were surveyed along with literature in relation to nanotechnology commercialization and litigation. Our study revealed that worldwide protection of Intellectual Property in nanotechnology has steadily been increasing year-on-year accounting 3.3 million patent applications filed in 2018 in which China and U.S. are dominating. The other main contributors are Japan, Germany Republic of Korea, France and U.K. Asia has emerged as the single region to file more than half of total filings for the first time thus shifting global IP landscape from Europe to Asia. Another notable finding is that there is a significant growth in trademark registration in many of the leading economies. Top five technology fields with high international patenting activity are computer technology, medical technology, digital communication, electrical machinery and pharmaceuticals where computer technology is dominating. More than 90% of the total patents are granted on materials, devices and processes developed as basic building blocks of nanotechnology at laboratory level which sound as more downstream innovations in the short-term. Amid the upward trends in nanotechnology patenting, newly emerging obstacles pose risks to innovation. A key finding of the present study is that the increasing trend of patent litigation almost follows the same path of patent grants indicating a positive correlation. A global prominence of middle-income and low-income countries in patent filing is yet to emerge which foreshadows an IP divide. A secondary market for patent assets is pronounced with many new types of players leading to a high cost of patenting nanotechnology. These trends foreshadow a surge of patent filings in the years to come and.the patent offices will be confronted with that 'surge' of patent applications of increased complexity and multidisciplinary nature..Patent offices with inadequate efficacy will ultimately produce lowquality patents along with a difficulty to enter into markets and will facilitate exploiting of the IP legal systems to extract rewards for infringement without contributing to innovation or social prosperity of nations. Insights and recommendations given in this paper will enable nanotechnology researchers, inventors, technopreneurs and investors to understand recent trends and global perspectives on implications of IP in nanotechnology and intensifying IP battle thereby to contemplate and succeed in their roadmaps towards leveraging on nanotechnology.

Solid oxide fuel cell technology paths: National innovation system contributions from Japan and the United States

This study discusses the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology paths in the United States and Japan under the national innovation system (NIS) framework using the available literature and a patent landscape. By examining technology trajectories, it is possible to identify and justify the patterns of key players and institutions from the NISs of the two countries that shaped the development of these technologies. These patterns are especially relevant to the analysis of the role of institutional arrangements in policymaking. This study presents the concept of a NIS and explores the main aspects of the Japanese and U.S. NISs regarding the SOFC technology path. This study analyzes historical patent evolution, patent applicants and their industrial sectors, international patent classifications (IPCs) and international patent activity. Moreover, this study highlights the correlations of the SOFC manufacturing and operation with patent data. This study examines the role of NISs in SOFC technology shaping from two main aspects: through independent historical events that motivated the establishment of institutional arrangements from which SOFCs have benefited and through shaping policies and efforts that are intended to promote the development of SOFC and related technologies. The results of this study demonstrate differences in terms of the sectors that are involved in the SOFC patenting activity, the IPCs of the filed patents and the international patent activity, which support the role of NISs in technology shaping.

Academic patenting in Brazil: the role of academic inventors in PCT patent applications – 2002-2012

ObjetivoEste trabalho apresenta a análise da atividade de patenteamento do setor acadêmico brasileiro considerando a recente evolução das políticas de promoção da inovação no Brasil. O artigo tem como base a diferenciação necessária entre “patentes acadêmicas universitárias”, que são patentes/depósitos cujos requerentes são as universidades, e as “patentes acadêmicas não-universitárias” que, apesar de ser inventadas por docentes da academia, não têm as universidades como requerentes dos depósitos.MetodologiaForam cruzadas informações de todos os inventores constantes nos pedidos de patentes de origem brasileira realizados pela via PCT, com os nomes dos pesquisadores com currículos disponíveis na Plataforma Lattes do CNPq. A análise incidiu sobre pedidos de patentes publicado na via do PCT com prioridade brasileira para o período 2002-2012 contidos no banco de dados do Espacenet.ResultadosVerificou-se que as patentes acadêmicas brasileiras se concentram em áreas mais tecnológicas, especialmente no domínio de Farmácia-Biotecnologia. Para um total de 466 pedidos de patentes com prioridade brasileiros neste setor, 233 tinham inventores acadêmicos. Destes 233 pedidos acadêmicos, 66.1% têm suas universidades como titulares ou co-titulares, enquanto os restantes 33.9% não são de propriedade das universidades. Verificou-se ainda que existem mais patentes no sub-domínio de biotecnologia depositadas pelo setor acadêmico brasileiro do que aquelas requeridas pelo setor empresarial privado.OriginalidadeNeste artigo, demonstrou que a academia desempenha um papel ainda mais expressivo na atividade de patenteamento internacional do Brasil, particularmente em domínios de tecnologia intensivos em ciência, e destaca a contribuição específica das “patentes acadêmicas não-universitárias”, que possuem origem lastreada pelos pesquisadores da academia.

On the Contributions of Knowledge-Intensive Business-Services Multinationals to Laggard Innovation Systems

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is assumed to be a source of knowledge flows across National Innovation Systems, with particular relevance for developing countries. Nonetheless, empirical assessments are usually manufacturing-oriented, providing only a partial view of the phenomena under scrutiny. This article aims at contributing to this body of literature by investigating the impacts of inward FDI on aggregate outcomes of developing countries' National Innovation Systems, taking into account potential contributions from Knowledge-Intensive Business-Services (KIBS) multinationals and their respective comparison with manufacturing investments. Using a panel dataset comprising 38 developing countries (2001-2010), fixed-effects regressions are applied according to a traditional endogenous growth model. Empirical findings underscore the relevance of KIBS MNCs' contributions to host innovation systems in developing countries. These impacts broadly surmount those of manufacturing FDI and they are particularly significant for: (a) value added in services; (b) value added in manufacturing; (c) aggregate export capacity; and (d) international (United States Patent and Trademark Office[USPTO]) patenting activity.

R & D on carbon nanostructures in Russia: scientometric analysis, 1990–2011

The analysis, based on scientific publications and patents, was conducted to form an understanding of the overall scientific and technology landscape in the field of carbon nanostructures and determine Russia’s place on it. The scientific publications came from the Science Citation Index Expanded database (DB SCIE); the patent information was extracted from databases of the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent). We used also data about research projects, obtained via information systems of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR). Bibliometric methods are used to rank countries, institutions, and scientists, contributing to the carbon nanostructures research. We analyze the current state and trends of the research in Russia as compared to other countries, and the contribution and impact of its institutions, especially research of the “highest quality.” Considerable focus is on research collaboration and its relationship with citation impact. Patent datasets are used to determine the composition of participants of innovative processes and international patent activity of Russian inventors in the field, and to identify the most active representatives of small and medium business and some technological developments ripe for commercialization. The article contains a critical analysis of the findings, including a policy discussion of the country’s scientific authorities.

Patenting Trends among the SAARC Nations: Comparing the Local and International Patenting Intensity

An attempt has been made in this study to present an overview of the patenting intensity of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. Patent data originating from SAARC countries from 1995 to 2011, filed through World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patent Office and United States Patent and Trademark Office were collected and analysed. Annual intellectual property (IP) reports of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh patent offices and WIPO annual IP reports were used to congregate patents filed/granted in the respective patent offices. During the study period, inventors from India have been highly active in filling international patents, whereas a modest international patenting activity was observed in case of the remaining SAARC nations. At the country level, a comparison based on the domestic patenting intensity and relative quality indicators shows that Sri Lanka is the strongest scientific country among the SAARC nations.

Canadian worldwide patent activity: An industrial level analysis

The objective of this paper is to find the determinants of Canadian international patent activity at the industrial level. The paper achieves this goal in two steps. In the first step, Canadian worldwide patent applications are mapped into industry classifications. The paper draws on three different methods (Johnson, 2002 [13]; Schmoch et al., 2003 [22]; and Lybbert and Zolas, 2013 [16]) and two different data sources (EPO PATSTAT and OECD Triadic patent families) to do this task. In the next step, Canadian patent applications abroad are modeled by using a modified gravity model. The empirical results suggest that the industrial R&D and value added of Canada and destination countries as well as industrial exports are significant factors of Canadian patent activity abroad.

International Patenting, Patent Rights, and Technology Gaps

International patenting activity is a source of international technology diffusion. However, technology diffuses imperfectly and technology gaps exist between nations. Indeed patenting activity is largely concentrated in developed countries. A gap also exists in patent protection levels across countries, being weak in largely developing countries. Hence this paper studies the extent to which the strengthening and harmonization of patent rights would stimulate international patenting and help narrow technology gaps. International total factor productivity (TFP) differences are used as measures of technology gaps. The paper develops and estimates a model of international patenting and TFP behavior using a panel data set of 44 countries, developed and developing, over the period 1975 - 2005. Of these countries, 25 of them will serve as source countries (i.e., the source of technologies). Overall, however, the paper finds that international patent reforms (even those that involve major regime changes) have relatively modest effects on the technology gap between developed and developing nations.

Inventing together: exploring the nature of international knowledge spillovers in Latin America

This paper studies the nature, sources and determinants of international patenting activity in Latin American countries (LACs) and examines the extent to which LACs benefit from R&D that is performed in the G-5 countries (France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). By using patents and patent citations from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, we trace sectoral knowledge flows from G-5 countries to LACs. We study the impact of three channels of knowledge flows: foreign R&D, patent citation-related spillovers, and face-to-face contact spillovers. Our results, based on data for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, suggest that international knowledge spillovers from the G-5 countries were a significant determinant of inventive activity during the period 1988–2003. We find that the stock of ideas produced in the USA has a strong impact on the international patenting activity of these countries. Moreover, controlling for US-driven R&D effects, bilateral patent citations and face-to-face relationships between inventors are both important additional mechanisms of knowledge transmission. Some of our results suggest that the latter mechanism is more important than the former.

Government Structure and the Political Economy of Technological Innovation

Are decentralized states better at technological innovation than centralized states? Economic and political theorists, from Hayek to Mokyr, suggest that government decentralization offer advantages for innovators. Decentralized governments are widely seen as agile, competitive, and well structured to adapt to innovation's gale of creative destruction. Meanwhile, centralized states, even when democratic, are subject to capture by status-quo interest groups which use their influence to promote policies which ultimately restrict long-run technological change. Therefore decentralized government is increasingly perceived as a necessary institutional foundation for fostering long-run technological innovation. I test this theory using data on international patent activity, scientific publications, and high-technology exports.

Political Decentralization and Technological Innovation: Testing the Innovative Advantages of Decentralized States

AbstractAre politically decentralized states better at fostering long‐run technological innovation than centralized states? Societies with decentralized governments are widely seen as agile, competitive, and well structured to adapt to innovation's gale of creative destruction. Meanwhile, centralized states, even when democratic, have come to be viewed as rigid and thus hostile to the risks, costs, and change associated with new technology, or prone to cling too long to foolhardy or outdated technological projects. Therefore government decentralization is often perceived as a necessary institutional foundation for encouraging long‐run technological innovation. However, in this article, I analyze data on international patent activity, scientific publications, and high‐technology exports, and show that there exists little evidence for an aggregate relationship between government structure and technological innovation.

Mapping Global Status and Trends in Patent Activity for Biological and Genetic Material

The extension of intellectual property rights into the realm of biology has emerged as an increasing focus of controversy in relation to science,2 biodiversity,3 agriculture,4 health,5 development,6 human rights7 and trade.8 This paper presents the results of a review of international trends in activity for patent protection between 1990-2000 and provisional data to 2004 and 2005 from over 70 national patent offices, four regional patent offices and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) using the European Patent Office esp@cenet worldwide database.9 The review employed patent publication counts as an indicator of activity for traditional medicines, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and biotechnology. The research provides insights into the internationalisation of patent activity in multiple areas of biology. The review emphasises the need to combine the further development of quantitative methods with qualitative analysis of the implications of international patent activity in relation to biological and genetic material for science, society and policy.

International patenting activity in the field of carbon nanotubes

Abstract Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are unique nanostructures with remarkable electronic and mechanical properties and could be used, for example, in nanometre-sized electronics or to strengthen polymer materials. Today, both SWNT and MWNT are being used as key components in the production of high-strength composites, and advanced sensors, electronic and optical devices, catalysts, batteries and fuel cells. Patenting activity in this sub-field of nanotechnology registered a spurt during the last 12 years––implying a breakthrough bringing about a technological paradigm shift in the field of fullerene since carbon nanotubes are fullerene-related structures. CNT is, thus, one of the key technologies likely to revolutionize information technology, materials and medicine and the present study aim to examine technological developments in this field based on international patenting activity during the period of 1991–2003.

International patenting and national technological specialization

This paper is concerned with the comparison of national technological systems for six major industrialized countries. Our analysis is based on an original data bank on international patenting activity that allows one to avoid some distortions that usually affect patent statistics. As a result we offer some methodological guidelines in the use of international patenting as a national technological indicator. Further, the domestic and foreign technological profiles for the six countries are described in detail. We observe that foreign patenting may prove a misleading indicator because internal and external patenting are still two distinct phenomena.