Patent Innovation Research Articles

New System for the Acceleration of the Airflow in Wind Turbines

Background: This patent is based on the wind industry technology called Diffuser Augmented Wind Turbines (DAWTs). This technology consists of a horizontal axis wind turbine, which is housed inside a duct with diverging section in the direction of the free air stream. In this paper, a review of preceding patents related to this technology is carried out. Objective: This paper presents an innovative patent to improve the performance of horizontal axis wind turbines. In particular, this system is aimed at improving the performance of those turbines that otherwise might not be installed due to the low wind resource existing at certain locations. Methods: The most innovative elements of this patent are: (1) the semi-spherical grooves, which are mechanized on the surface of the two diffusers in order to guarantee a more energetic boundary layer; (2) the coaxial diffuser, which is located downwind following the first diffuser in order to increase the suction effect on the air mass close to the inlet; (3) the coaxial rings located around the first diffuser outlet, which are used to deflect the external airflow toward the turbine wake; and (4), the selforientating system to orientate the system by the prevailing wind direction. Results: An application of the patent for increasing the power generated by a horizontal axis wind turbine with three blades is presented. The patent is designed and its performance is evaluated by using a Computational Fluid Dynamics code. The numerical results show that this system rises the airflow going through the rotor of the turbine. Conclusion: The patented device is an original contribution aimed at enabling a more profitable installation of wind turbines in places where the wind resource is insufficient because of the wind shear caused both by the proximity of the earth and the obstacles on the earth surface.

Global Perspective on Payroll System Patent and Research: A Bibliometric Performance

This study explores the global perspective of payroll research and patent innovations for the past 50 years. The aims are to offer insights into payroll research and publication characteristics, and to highlight patterns and trends of the payroll systems development. Data are based on the Scopus database up to year 2018. Articles related to payroll were assessed by many aspects including growth of patent and publication, documents and source types, language of publications, subject area, geographical distribution of publications, keyword and citation analyses. From the result of the bibliometric analysis, it can be concluded that payroll systems patent developments are increasing, while publication of payroll empirical studies are quite low in number. Consequently, apart from uncovers innovation and commercialization efforts of payroll systems, this paper proposes that more empirical studies are needed in the area. Greater number of empirical studies will enable exploration of further insights on socio-technical elements and behavioral impacts of payroll systems implementation in organizations. Such studies could discover whether developed and patented systems are worth-investing and impacting on the quality of work and life of the users.

The declining impact of the US National Institutes of Health on cancer patenting

US Patent and Trademark Office data show a slowing of NIH-supported cancer patent innovation since 1995, amid criticism of an incremental rather than a high-risk, high-reward funding strategy.

Technology diffusion, innovation size, and patent policy

We develop a Schumpeterian growth model based on technology diffusion and innovation, whereby the distribution of the innovation size is endogenously determined. Firms improve the targeted products by randomly combining existing technologies owned by other firms. Furthermore, the firms contribute to the adoption of newly developed frontier technology. The innovators must attain the minimum innovation size required for a patent. That is, the patent office grants patents only for superior innovations. We show that an increase in the minimum innovation size may reduce the average patentable innovation size because of an endogenous response of the distribution of innovation size. This implies that even if the patent office requires superior innovations in order to assign patents, innovators tend to produce inferior patentable innovations on average.

From Fighting Monopolies to Promoting Industry: Patent Laws and Innovation in Sweden 1819–1914

Abstract In this essay, we trace the evolution of four different patent laws in Sweden; from the first Swedish law of privilegia exclusiva in 1819 to the country becoming only the third country in the world to introduce novelty searches into the law of 1884. We discuss the ensuing contemporary public debates surrounding new proposals for legislation, as well as discernible effects of new patent laws. From being mainly a question about the “tyranny of monopolies” in the early laws to being one of “life and death for Swedish industry” in the subsequent laws, we show how changes in patent legislation resulted in three different types of innovation; technological, market and organizational. The results show that although the early laws implied severe litigation problems and considerably shorter patent terms, an early market for technology emerged as legislation had clearly established that intellectual property could be sold, bought and inherited. Concurrently the law of 1856 created a market for patenting services and patent agencies by requiring the use of Swedish agents by foreign patentees. Finally, foreign patenting increased as restrictions on patentees being non-Swedish citizens were gradually phased out.

The Competition Intensity of CVC and the Innovation Performance of Invested Enterprises: An Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Involvement Intensity

In the context of rapid change, innovation is the key for enterprises to maintain sustainable competitiveness and survive and develop in an increasingly competitive market environment. As an important mode for large enterprises to obtain external technology sources, CVC is the main tool for value creation and an important form of corporate entrepreneurial activities. It has the general purpose of obtaining high financial returns as traditional venture capital, and also has the unique strategic goal of maintaining open innovation, acquiring new technologies and entering new markets by investing in start-ups in the same or different industries. Whether the CVC parent company can effectively promote the technological innovation performance and capabilities of invested enterprises while paying attention to its own strategic benefits, researches have not yet formed consensus conclusions. And empirical studies on the reasons for the differentiated impact of CVC investment on innovation performance of invested enterprises are still relatively few. Based on the 2008-2016 GEM and SME IPO enterprise sample data, this paper uses the random effect model of non-Balanced panel data to study the impact of the industry competition intensity between the CVC parent company and invested enterprises on the innovation input and output of invested enterprises in the Chinese context, and analyzes the mechanism of the CVC parent company’s involvement intensity in the board of directors, supervisors, and the management of the invested enterprises. It is found that the CVC parent company which is competitive with invested enterprises is more likely to generate opportunistic behaviors such as imitation and theft, which will inhibit the innovation efforts of invested enterprises. Therefore, the industry competition intensity between the two parties has a significant inhibitory effect on the innovation patent output of invested enterprises. However, the involvement intensity of the CVC parent company has actively promoted the innovative R&D investment and patent output of invested enterprises. In addition, the competitive CVC parent company increases its involvement in the board of directors, board of supervisors and management of invested enterprises, which can partially reduce the information asymmetry, supervise and restrain the behavior of invested enterprises, and thus promote the R&D of invested enterprises. Based on the above conclusions, this paper points out that: we should encourage large enterprises with good conditions to develop the innovative combination of industry and finance such as industry + venture capital funds”, strengthen the protection and enforcement of intellectual property, take the joint investment strategy with independent venture capital institutions, give priority to the investment in start-ups located close to each other, and increase the participation of the CVC parent company in the management of invested enterprises, effectively improving the efficiency of technological innovation output of invested enterprises and promoting the technology innovation performance of invested enterprises.

PATENT PROTECTION, OPTIMAL LICENSING, AND INNOVATION WITH ENDOGENOUS ENTRY

How does patent policy affect innovation when patent licensing is crucial for firms? To address this question, the present study incorporates voluntary patent licensing between an innovator and followers, as discussed in the literature of industrial organization, into a dynamic general equilibrium model. Unlike previous studies, both the licensing fee and the number of licensees are endogenously determined by the innovator’s maximization and the free-entry condition. Using this model, we show that strong patent protection does not always enhance innovation, economic growth, and welfare. Furthermore, the extended analysis provides the policy implication that the effect of patent policy depends on how difficult further innovation is without patent licensing of the current leading technology.

Deriving Competitive Foresight Using an Ontology-Based Patent Roadmap and Valuation Analysis

An ontology-based patent roadmap and valuation analysis approach provides competitive foresights for a corporation's associated patent portfolios and the underlying business processes. To demonstrate the methodology and computer supported analysis system, the patent portfolios of two global smart e-retailers are compared. The patents in each company's portfolio are text mined and categorized based on the smart retailing ontology schema. Both cases' text mining results are plotted as patent portfolio roadmaps, linking patents to innovation categories, commercial applications, and business process models. The three-dimensional (3-D) patent valuation analysis method provides foresights of the companies' competitive advantages related to “patent scope” (PS), “patent importance” (PI), and “patent innovation” (PIN). The research implements a computer supported system to provide evidence how companies utilize patent portfolios as key strategies for protecting business related intellectual properties (IPs) while implementing sustainable and competitive business processes.

Science Research and Patenting of Innovations

At the present time the USA’s Federal Government spends big tax monies for Scientific Research and Development (R&D). How to best organize this vast governmental activity, how to best estimate its ultimate utility and profitability (real and potential), how to best increase efficiency of innovation and production, how to best estimate the worth of new discoveries and innovations, how to properly fund R&D of new concepts and innovations, and how to correctly estimate their results, how to improve a patenting all these macro-problems are important for successful planning of scientific research, new systems—these are all complex and pressing questions that require answers if further industrial progress and scientific improvements are ever to be! The authors consider these some major-system problems and offer many remarkable innovations in organization, estimation, suggestions for entirely new research efficiency criteria, development, new methods for assessments of new ideas, innovations in science and industry, and new methods in patenting technology. The author A.A. Bolonkin worked for many years within the USA’s Federal Government entities (scientific laboratories of NASA, Air Force), and USSR and USA universities and industry. -------------------------------------------------- Keywords: Organizing scientific research, planning of research, funding research, funding new ideas (concepts), funding inventions and innovations, estimating research cost, assessment of research results, research efficiency criteria, innovation in organizing of scientific R&D, patenting.

Multi-cross-industry innovation patents in the USA - A combination of PATSTAT and Orbis search

Knowledge and technologies from different fields will undoubtedly be combined in order to develop the products of the future. Remarkable examples thereof can already be found in the fields of interconnected „smart“ products and natural care products. Few companies have access to the entire range of available knowledge; most are required to obtain this knowledge from other companies or research institutes. One way to acquire the requisite knowledge is through co-operation. When at least three companies from different industries are cooperating for this purpose, we speak of multi-cross-industry innovation. This kind of innovation is reflected in many cases of patenting. For a deeper understanding, we identify multi-cross-industry innovation patents in the leading market of the USA, using a combined search on PATSTAT and Orbis in the period from 1980 to 2015. We apply a time series analysis, an applicant analysis, a priority country analysis, an analysis of co-operation structure, and an analysis of the application domains to the data. Our results show an increase in the occurrence of multi-cross-industry innovation patents. The major players involved in this are Japanese companies, which apply for nearly 90% of all multi-cross-industry innovation patents. Multi-cross-industry innovation covers a broad range of application domains, from electronics to material sciences.

Interpretation and Enlightenment of the Anti-monopoly Judicial Experience on Reverse Payment in the Pharmaceutical Industry in the United States: Focusing on the Judicial Rules

The reverse payment agreement in the pharmaceutical field embodies the game between the innovative protection of drug R&D and the free competition in the pharmaceutical market. The anti-monopoly review carried out on this type of agreement reflects the application competition between drug patent laws and anti-monopoly laws. In American antitrust legal practice of reverse payment in the field of pharmaceuticals, in order to clarify whether the reverse payment agreement has a long-term effect that is unfavorable to competition, in the process of reviewing the illegality of reverse payment, we find that per se illegal rule, rule of reason, quick look rule and Scope of the Patent test have constituted the main rules for the antitrust review of the reverse payment agreement nowadays. However, no unanimous conclusion has been reached on this issue. On the one hand, this is due to the issue of the competing application of patent laws and anti-monopoly laws in reverse payment behaviors, which makes the value selection not easy. On the other hand, this is also based on the fact that different courts of the court, especially different federal circuit courts, enjoy greater autonomy in the choice of rules. The review of the judicial experience in the United States, in addition to providing relevant information, is more to provide useful lessons for the next step in the healthy and orderly development of China’s pharmaceutical market, especially the generic market. The selection of the judicial experience in the United States is based on the following factors. First, the selection of the U.S. experience as the object of investigation is determined by its world leading position in the application of antitrust laws, the development and application of the pharmaceutical industry, and its patent specifications. Second, the selection of the U.S. experience is related to the differences in the focus of antitrust enforcement mechanisms in the United States, and the European Union and its major countries. Third, the anti-monopoly review focused on reverse payment in the pharmaceutical field shows a competition and a value selection between the application of anti-monopoly laws and the application of patent laws of medicines essentially. It is difficult to draw on a fair and efficient judgment to rely on administrative agency alone. Strengthening a judicial supervision and review, or establishing a third-party review mechanism, may be a realistic and effective move. At present, the implementation of anti-monopoly laws in China is basically normal, and it is on the way to achieving specialization and refinement. The innovation protection and the competitive incentives in the pharmaceutical industry are an important part of the entire market competition law and its implementation system. The relevant institutional mechanisms need to be improved and the practice process must be promoted in an orderly manner. Taking the anti-monopoly review of reverse payment as a breakthrough point, combining the extraterritorial experience with our country’s reality, and ensuring and satisfying people’s drug demands as the fundamental starting point, we should pay full attention to the balance between drug innovation protection and free competition. As the basic rule of anti-monopoly review of reverse payment, the rule of rebuttable illegality presumption provides both parties with full defense opportunities and encourages innovative development and free competition in the pharmaceutical sector with a sound system. Finally, it is worth emphasizing that China and the United States have different legal environments. It is hard to say that a specific experience and practice of the United States can directly apply to China. However, while investigating the U.S. experience, it is worthwhile to take seriously the cultivation and training of ideas and methods for thinking about similar issues. Specific to the anti-monopoly review of reverse payment, the problem of the value selection between drug patent innovation protection and market free competition, it is a good idea to use third-party evaluation platforms and operational mechanisms similar to the court and its judicial review mechanisms. This is not only conducive to the substantive solution to the problem, but also conforms to the design advocacy for the establishment and development of the third-party public service platforms from the top political level, and can effectively implement the landing.

Transforming the Innovative Patents into the Future Clinical Nursing Practice of Taiwan

Transforming the Innovative Patents into the Future Clinical Nursing Practice of Taiwan

Text mining geo-visualization of patent documents on geo-spatial big-data industry

This study attempts to establish prototype-leveled patent fusion data based on collecting structured and unstructured geo-spatial big data (GSBD) patent information, to distinguish GSBD technical ecosystems into their spatial and non-spatial aspects, and to propose a method to analyze visualizations in a multi-dimensional way. Spatially, we visualize the patent citation data among applicants for a patent at local and national levels, and implement a visualization analysis of the competitive relations for the locational traits of applicants for patent and technology innovation by comparing technology dependence and technology impacts in GSBD technology. Non-spatially, we analyzed the trend of time series of GSBD technology innovation activities based on Industry Classification and technology keywords. We establish the related networks among industry classification, IPC patent classification and technology keywords and implement a visualization analysis of convergence structure in element technologies through graph network analysis and Venn diagram analysis. We extracted issues related with the establishment of patent fusion data and interpretation of visualization analysis through the examination of research methodology and analysis results and discussed future research tasks to solve these problems.

Early Identification of Patentable Medical Innovations.

There is considerable interest in developing methods for early detection of medical advances which are likely to lead to effective treatments. Because the number of potentially significant discoveries published each year is very large, practically-useful detection must be accomplished using computational models. This paper considers a key component of this detection process - early identification of patentable innovations - and presents a novel machine learning-based prediction model to perform the identification. Experiments demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.

Technology networks: the autocatalytic origins of innovation.

We analyse the autocatalytic structure of technological networks and evaluate its significance for the dynamics of innovation patenting. To this aim, we define a directed network of technological fields based on the International Patents Classification, in which a source node is connected to a receiver node via a link if patenting activity in the source field anticipates patents in the receiver field in the same region more frequently than we would expect at random. We show that the evolution of the technology network is compatible with the presence of a growing autocatalytic structure, i.e. a portion of the network in which technological fields mutually benefit from being connected to one another. We further show that technological fields in the core of the autocatalytic set display greater fitness, i.e. they tend to appear in a greater number of patents, thus suggesting the presence of positive spillovers as well as positive reinforcement. Finally, we observe that core shifts take place whereby different groups of technology fields alternate within the autocatalytic structure; this points to the importance of recombinant innovation taking place between close as well as distant fields of the hierarchical classification of technological fields.

INTRACRANIAL TARGETING OF GLIOBLASTOMA MULTIFORME WITH COLD ATMOSPHERIC PLASMA

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly malignant aggressive neoplasm of the primary central nervous system characterized by rapid growth, extensive angiogenesis, and resistance to current therapies. As the most common malignant primary brain tumor, GBM accounts for 45% of all brain tumors with over 20,000 new diagnoses per year in the U.S. Due to the highly aggressive nature of GBM, the median survival is limited to 16–19 months, with less than 30% of patients alive at two years after diagnosis. In this context, GBM treatment strategies remain largely palliative despite the advancement of multi‐modal therapies. Thus, it is necessary to develop novel tools that can target proliferating tumor cells and enhance existing therapies. Conventional lasers in medical devices are based on the thermal interaction with tissues, which lead to necrosis and permanent tissue damage. In contrast, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) has recently emerged as a novel therapeutic approach for targeting of cancerous tissue. Indeed, recent findings suggest that CAP jet interactions with tissue may allow for cell death without necrosis. However, studies to date have been limited primarily to subcutaneous implantation of tumors. While beneficial, this approach does not replicate the complex environment of the brain (i.e. GBM). Here, we developed a novel approach to target CAP to intracranial GBM tumors. This new device, termed μCAP, consists of a Pyrex syringe through which CAP, employing helium gas, is supplied via the implanted endoscopic cannula. We first performed a set of experiments to test the influence of μCAP on normal brain parenchyma. Female athymic Foxn1nu nude mice underwent intracranial μCAP injection to the frontal lobe (15s total). Helium alone was administered as a control. Histological examination (Nissl staining) of the frontal lobe 7 days later revealed a similar number of apoptotic cells surrounding the injection site between μCAP and control treated animals (9±3 vs. 6±1 apoptotic cells/μm2, control vs. μCAP, n=2–3, p>0.05). Similarly, no evidence of glia infiltration at the injection site was apparent. Next, nude mice underwent implantation of U87 glioblastoma cells (105 cells) into the frontal lobe and were simultaneously instrumented with a custom endoscopic cannula. Tumors were allowed to develop for 7 days and mice were then treated intracranially with μCAP (15s total) or helium control. Using in vivo bioluminescence imaging (Figure), the tumor volume in control animals increased nearly 1000% over the course of a week, whereas μCAP treated tumor volumes remained at baseline levels (day 7: 1035±773 vs. 172±107 radiance %baseline, control vs. μCAP, n=3, p>0.05). These findings indicate that CAP has a minimal effect on healthy brain tissue, and further provide the first evidence for the potential of CAP to inhibit intracranial GBM tumor growth.Support or Funding InformationGW Institute for Biomedical Engineering Interdisciplinary Research Fund; US Patent Innovations, LLCThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Lean innovation: Family firm succession and patenting strategy in a dynamic institutional landscape

The paper is motivated by recent findings about family firms (FFs) ability to ‘do more with less’ in the innovation process, which we dub ‘lean innovation’. We consider lean innovation patenting strategies in an emerging market context that is undergoing improvement in its intellectual property protection (IPP) regime. Grounded in upper echelons theory we expect that the initiation of an intra-family succession will lead to generational shift in a FFs approach to IPP, as evinced in its patenting strategy. Applying a difference in difference methodology we are able to compare FFs who have undertaken an intra-family succession with FFs who have not yet initiated a succession process. Further, we consider the second difference as a strategy change between the pre-and post-succession period thereby isolating the effects of the post-succession change on patenting strategy. We also distinguish between different patent types (invention, utility, and design), and consider FF propensity to patent, and patent conversion rates. Based on generational differences between founders and successors we find successors are significant adopters of lean innovation patenting strategies. We add to the sparse literature on succession in emerging market FFs and contribute to improved understandings of long-term FF strategic adaptation in a dynamic institutional landscape.

Intellectual property rights and informal sector innovations: Exploring grassroots innovations in India

The primary driver for innovations in the formal sector is credited to the institution of patenting. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) as the extrinsic motivational factor have supported innovations by firms and industries which have a large market and resources to commercialise their products. Grassroots innovations, on the other hand, represent a culture of individual innovators outside formal sector who innovate out of adversity, curiosity and needs. Most of the innovators have cited intrinsic motivation behind the innovation and are unaware of IPR. However, there is a paucity of literature on the relation between IPR and innovations in the informal sector. Drawing on the literature on IPR and innovations in the formal sector, we examine whether the same theories and rationales apply to a different nature of innovations in the informal sector. This is an exploratory study and to map the current scenario of patenting for grassroots innovations secondary data were collected from the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) website. To understand the innovators’ perception, we interviewed them through various means and on different sites. The study finds that although there was no initial intention to innovate for extrinsic incentives like patenting, there is an increasing trend in filing patents for grassroots innovations by the NIF in India.

An Analysis of Technologically Radical Innovation and Breakthrough Patents

Breakthrough innovations – commonly defined by innovations with patents surpassing a critical threshold of forward citations – generate benefits for innovators, businesses, and society. Analyzing more than five million patents and citations from 1976 to 2017, this paper adds to the existing literature by examining whether the radicalness of a patented good – that is, the more technology classes cited as contributing prior arts not identified in the patent’s own technology identity – impacts the likelihood an innovation is a breakthrough. In essence, the paper tests the common belief that it is beneficial to “think outside the box” when innovating. The results show that increased radicalness increases the likelihood of a breakthrough up to a certain threshold, after which increased radicalness decreases the likelihood of a breakthrough. Additionally, established innovators and university ownership of a patent each extend the range for which increased radicalness increases the probability of a breakthrough, while joint patent ownership decreases the range.

Branding, co-branding and innovation: expectations and limitations

Innovation is viewed as a bedrock of economic growth. The state of innovation has attracted increasing interest in light of claims that innovative activity, at least in the West, has been declining.1 For that reason, particular attention is given to factors that are deemed to contribute to innovation: one such factor is intellectual property rights and the relationship between intellectual property and innovation—the primary focus being on patents.2 This is understandable, given that, for many, innovation is synonymous with developments in technology.3 Recently, increasing voices have highlighted the connection between trade marks, brands and innovation.4 This connection (and the broader constructs of brands and branding) has been less widely considered than the patent–innovation link. As stated by Tim Oliver Brexendorf, Barry Bayus and Kevin Lane Keller, ‘the relationship between branding and innovation is still relatively under-researched. Branding has gained little reference in the innovation literature and vice versa.’5 One approach is to argue that the entire inquiry about any claimed relationship between trade marks and innovation is misplaced. Innovation occurs at the level of producing goods or services, not at the level of their branding. From this point of view, a product may, or may not, be innovative. If it is, certain intellectual property rights, particularly patents or copyright, may have contributed to the innovation. It is only after an innovative product comes into being that a brand becomes relevant.6