Patent Quality Research Articles

Innovation’s false spring: U.S. export controls and Chinese patent quality

This paper evaluates the effect of U.S. export restrictions, enacted in 2018, on China’s patent production. An analysis of patent-level datasets indicates a significant surge in Chinese patent filings in sanctioned technological domains. This quantitative growth, however, is accompanied by a decrease in patent quality, evidenced by reduced citation counts and market worth. Specifically, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have witnessed a substantial rise in patent filings post-2018, while private firms exhibit a more modest increase. Despite the surge in patent quantity, the overall quality of patents—particularly those originating from SOEs—has deteriorated significantly. This study contributes to the body of research concerning the economic consequences of the U.S.-China trade dispute and offers original insights into the implications of trade sanctions on innovation quality.

Empirical Research on the Impact of Technological Innovation on New Energy Vehicle Sales

In the context of global carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, researching the driving forces and influencing factors behind the growth in sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) is particularly urgent and crucial. Although the academic community has extensively explored various factors affecting NEV sales, technological innovation, as the core engine driving industry progress, is yet to receive sufficient and in-depth exploration regarding its potential profound impact on sales. Therefore, this study thoroughly analyzes the mechanism by which technological innovation influences sales, supplementing the existing literature, exploring sustainable industry development, and guiding the optimization of business strategies and precise government policies. This research employs the quality of NEV technology patents as a proxy variable for technological innovation, and conducts an empirical analysis using China’s NEV sales data from 2015 to 2022. The results of the study show the following: (1) the quality of technological innovation significantly contributes to the growth of new energy vehicle sales. This conclusion still holds when the administrative protection of intellectual property rights and the government’s public innovation environment indicators are used as instrumental variables of technological innovation quality. (2) Technological innovations in different links of the new energy vehicle industry chain have a positive impact on sales, especially those in the midstream battery, motor, and downstream charging services. This shows that in the critical period of new energy vehicle development, not only is the breakthrough of key technologies crucial, but also, non-critical technologies can promote sales growth by improving user experience and product performance. (3) Compared with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), the overall technological innovation of new energy vehicles (NEVs) has a more significant effect on the sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). (4) In addition, the study finds that there is no significant difference between high-quality and low-quality technological innovations on the promotion of new energy vehicle sales, which indicates that the market values the overall effect of technological innovations more than the mere level of quality. The study of the impact of technological innovation on sales in different branches of the new energy industry chain can help to clarify the direction of technological innovation, optimize resource allocation, promote the synergistic development of the industry chain, enhance market competitiveness, and provide a scientific basis for policy formulation.

Rethinking the trade-off relationship between innovation quantity and quality: the evidence from public energy R&D programs in South Korea

This study examines the relationship between quantitative and qualitative aspect of innovation in South Korea’s public energy research and development programs. Through an analysis of 1170 projects, the study confirms a complementary association between the quantity and quality of patents. The findings underscore the importance of a strategic approach to managing innovation, challenging the notion of a trade-off and advocating balance. It also discusses how this relationship varies across technological fields. This emphasizes the need to consider moderating variables in future research on this domain. This study thus not only contributes theoretically by expanding the discourse on innovation dynamics but also offers practical insights for policymakers and industry practitioners.

Analysis of patent innovation evolution and layout characteristics of global new textile materials technologies

Abstract Vigorously developing new textile material technology is critical to improving the textile industry's high-tech level, upgrading its transformation, promoting high-quality development of the real economy, and enhancing the country's overall power. This paper analyzes patent technology to explore new textile material technology layout characteristics and evolution trends for the strategic basis of industrial transformation and development on a global scale. The research took new textile material technology patents as the research object, constructed 76,373 invention application patent data pools in China, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, and analysed new textile material technology structural characteristics and their evolution trend from three aspects of patent structure, layout characteristics and evolutions. As a result, it was found that the development plans and target focuses of textile new material technology vary from country to country. Global enterprises in garments, advanced material production, and chemical materials, represented by DuPont, 3M, and Dow Global Technologies, provide an important guarantee for the United States in maintaining its global leadership position in the development of the new textile material industry. Japan pays more attention to the practicality of new materials and considers the coordinated development of the environment and resources. Europe and South Korea focus on the construction of industrial clusters with their own characteristics, establish and improve the industrial standardization system based on core technology and core manufacturing, and maintain global competitiveness in textile new material technology. After 2009, the number of patent applications for new textile material technology in China exceeded that of Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, becoming a global patent power. However, there is still a huge gap between the quality of patents and the layout of new cutting-edge materials in China and those in developed countries such as the United States and Japan, which is the main problem that needs to be solved urgently in the future innovation and development of China's textile industry, technology planning and layout.

The impact of innovation on intra-city economic disparity: a technological complexity perspective

ABSTRACT As innovation progresses, the overall complexity of technological inventions also grows, impacting the spatial effects of innovation. This study, utilizing data from 281 Chinese cities from 2005 to 2020 and employing panel threshold regression, re-evaluates the impact of innovation on regional disparities from the perspective of technological complexity. Initially, the paper introduces a nonlinear iteration method to generate two metrics: innovation complexity for assessing regional innovation and technological complexity for assessing patent quality. Subsequently, the study incorporates technological complexity into the theoretical framework of spillover and siphoning effects, exploring its impact on intra-city economic disparity. The results reveal: (1) Overall, innovation in Chinese cities contributes to alleviating intra-city economic disparity. However, this effect is nonlinear, gradually diminishing as innovation increases. (2) The study empirically supports the statement innovation in high-complexity technologies plays a smaller role in reducing regional disparities than innovation in low-complexity technologies. (3) We also examine how geographic factors moderate the effects of innovation of varying complexities on economic disparity, finding that increasing geographic barriers can result in opposite moderating effects on high-complexity and low-complexity innovation. Our research implies that the ongoing evolution of innovation towards domains with higher technological complexity potentially threatens balanced regional development.

Environmental protection tax and enterprises’ green technology innovation: Evidence from China

The Environmental Protection Tax Law was officially implemented, marking the initial establishment of China's green tax system. This paper aims to estimate whether the introduction of environmental protection tax will promote enterprises' green technology innovation. Based on data from listed enterprises from 2015 to 2021, this paper takes the implementation of environmental protection tax in 2018 as a quasi-natural experiment, and uses the DID method to evaluate the impact of the implementation of environmental protection tax on the technological innovation ability of enterprises. The results show that, after the implementation of environmental protection tax, the quantity of green patents increased significantly, while the quality of green patents decreased significantly. The analysis of mechanism channel reveals that environmental protection tax policy appears to increase the number of green patents putting regulatory pressure on enterprises and increasing R&D investment, while managerial myopia inhibits the improvement of green patent quality. The changes in the quantity and quality of green patents in large enterprises are more significant. It is also found that the quantity in coastal areas decreased significantly, while the quantity in inland areas markedly increased.

Does SASAC boost the innovation of state-owned enterprises?

This study examines the causal effect of government monitoring on the innovation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). By exploiting an exogenous shock to SOEs caused by the establishment of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in 2003, our difference-in-differences estimates show that government monitoring effectively promotes SOEs' innovation, and this positive innovation-driven effect becomes more prominent in SOEs with lower initial governance quality, stronger policy intensity, and greater innovation intensity. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms are that this reform helps reduce corporate policy burdens and improve management efficiency. In addition, government monitoring promotes SOEs' patent quality, resulting in enables better performance and higher productivity. Taken together, our findings suggest that government monitoring can be vital to SOEs' innovation activities.

Economic growth target and patent quality: the heterogeneous effects of knowledge stock

ABSTRACT Using the Chinese industrial enterprise database and enterprise patent database, we investigate the influence of economic growth targets on patent quality, gauged via the knowledge breadth approach. Our findings reveal: (i) Economic growth targets significantly diminish patent quality, a conclusion that remains robust through multiple sensitivity analyses. (ii) Several underlying mechanisms drive this impact, including reduced allocations for education and science, as well as amplified market segmentation. (iii) The effect demonstrates heterogeneity based on knowledge stock, represented by firm age and export activities. Notably, for firms with substantial knowledge stock, the negative impact on patent quality becomes less pronounced. Our research sheds light on the nuanced ramifications of performance target management and elucidates key determinants of patent quality.

Do high administrative‐level cities promote firm technological innovation? A novel analysis based on patent applications

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of China's administrative hierarchy of cities on firm innovation through the incentive policies that mobilize local governments to promote firm innovation. Using difference‐in‐differences approach, this paper finds that high‐level cities significantly and robustly enhance the number of firm patents. The results also suggest that alleviating firm financing constraints and leveraging human capital advantages are important mechanisms. In addition, high‐level cities mainly facilitate non‐state enterprises and small firms, and the quality of utility model patents was significantly lower and the quality of invention patents was higher in high‐level cities. This paper also presents several policy implications.

Privatization of SOEs and its innovation performance: A reexamination

AbstractThe empirical literature comparing the innovation performance of state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) and private firms in China often yields conflicting results. To shed new light on this debate, we construct an extensive dataset by linking the Annual Survey of Industrial Enterprises (ASIE) dataset with patent quality data. Our analysis focuses on the impact of privatization on the innovation performance of former SOEs. Our findings suggest that the privatization of SOEs generally results in a decrease in innovation performance. This adverse effect is particularly pronounced for firms situated in regions characterized by low levels of market development or those grappling with high financial constraints. This supports the hypothesis that SOEs can serve as a mechanism to address institutional deficiencies in China's context. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the relative innovation performance of SOEs and private enterprises and has significant policy implications for ongoing SOE reforms in China and other developing countries.

Science and technology parks and their heterogeneous effect on firm innovation

Science and Technology Parks (STPs) have proliferated in many countries as a policy initiative to foster innovation. Previous studies have mostly analysed average effects on the innovation performance of tenant firms, leading to mixed results. This paper aims to explore whether there are heterogeneous STP effects. Creating a novel database of Spanish patents generated on- and off-park, merged with firm and STP characteristics, we find that younger and larger firms benefit more from being on-park and younger and older STPs have a stronger effect on tenants’ patent quality, while STPs promoted by universities do not exhibit a differential effect.

An investigation into the relationship between quality and commercialisation channel of university patents

ABSTRACT We investigate how patent quality is correlated with different commercialisation channels for university patents. A dataset of 2052 university patents, including the market price of patents, is employed for the empirical analysis. We find that patents with more claims are less likely to be sold but more likely to be licensed, meaning that the decision of patent license is focused more on the patent’s legal stability. Furthermore, patents with more IPC classes and broader scope are more likely to be sold, meaning that the decision of patent selling is focused more on the potential of the patent to be used in different areas. The price of sold patents is positively correlated with the number of claims, number of IPC classes, scope, and family size, whereas the price of licensed patents is positively correlated with the forward citations they receive and family size. Considering the time effect of patent grants and patent commercialisation, pre-grant patents are more likely to be commercialised by selling them at a price higher than granted patents, and patents with more claims tend to be commercialised for a shorter duration.

China’s space sector, firm CSR and patent quality

PurposeThis paper examines firm-level accountability and performance implications under a state-dominated institutional environment, China, for firms engaged in the space economy. Extant studies on the rapidly evolving civil space economy predominantly focus on developed Western economies at national or sector levels, frequently ignoring alternative institutional contexts. Additionally, limited attention has been given to firm-level empirical evidence and analysis, including corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice-R&D quality relationships in the space economy. The paper addresses each of these areas.Design/methodology/approachThis paper utilises multiple regression, propensity score matching and split sampling methods applied to a proprietary dataset of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed A-share firms. Results are robust to endogeneity issues, alternative measurement of dependent variables and sampling.FindingsChina’s space firms demonstrate superior CSR performance to their counterparts in other sectors, supporting CSR‘s role in maintaining legitimacy. Their CSR practices also positively contribute to firm patent quality. The link is more pronounced among firms facing higher economic policy uncertainty and for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The latter is due to SOEs’ government support, advantages in financing and attracting and retaining a high-quality workforce.Originality/valueThis paper adds to discussion on major space power’s, by examining China’s state-dominated civil space sector. It also addresses a lack of empirical firm-level evidence on space firm behaviour by examining the impact of firm-level CSR practices on R&D quality outcomes, areas in which there is a limited literature.

Research on the impact of digital transformation on innovative high-quality development in the context of environmental regulation in agricultural enterprises

Digital transformation is an important strategic choice for agricultural enterprises to adapt to economic development in the new era. The innovation quality of patents with core technology and high commercial value is significantly higher than that of low-quality patents such as weak patents developed through technological imitation. This study investigates the impact of digital transformation on innovative high-quality development in the context of environmental regulation in agricultural enterprises for the timeframe from 2012 to 2020. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the goal of improving innovation quality can be achieved through digital transformation in agricultural companies. The results show that digital transformation can effectively promote the improvement of innovation quality in companies, and environmental regulation has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between them. “Violating agricultural operation” is a specific appellation for the diversified management of listed agricultural companies, and it is one of the management modes of agricultural enterprises. For listed agricultural companies, the greater the degree of enterprise diversification, the greater the degree of “violating agricultural operation”. The influence mechanism test shows that “violating agricultural operation” plays a part in mediating effect in the process of digital transformation promoting innovation quality improvement.

Patent Quality: A Critique of the State of the Discussion

Despite decades of research and debate, the narrative that low-quality patents stifle innovation remains fraught with controversy. It is called into question because the term “patent quality” seems to be a potential misnomer, and reforms to improve patent quality are ineffective. The purpose of this study is to offer a comparative critique of the debate regarding patent quality in the European Union and the United States. It investigates five factors relating to the history of this debate, contested definitions, measurements of quality, proposals that are not implemented, and reforms that are implemented. The main contribution of this paper is to review how the debate has been constructed, indicating that certain arguments seem to talk past each other and consensus is hard to reach, that measurements are flawed, and that proposals and reforms seeking improvement seem to be treating the symptoms but not the disease. The study argues that the debate encounters a conceptual predicament characterized by substantively different conceptions of patent quality, which are influenced by differing normative expectations and assessments of patent systems. It transforms a potentially useful analytical concept into a rabbit hole. Any attempts to break the current impasse must begin with an appreciation of the different senses in which patent quality is used and an assessment of the legitimacy of their underlying normative frameworks.

How Urban-Level Credit Expansion Affects the Quality of Green Innovation: Evidence from China

We take the economic stimulus package in China as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the effect of urban credit expansion on the quality of green innovation at the city level. The analysis takes urban-level and firm-level data from 2004 to 2015 and adopts the PSM-DID approach. Our empirical results suggest that the implementation of credit expansion makes a significant contribution to the improvement of green patent quality. In addition, the mechanism suggests that urban credit expansion policies promote corporate green innovation through channels such as providing credit expansion and a lower cost of financing enterprise transformation and upgrading. This research also suggest that credit expansion promotes economic growth while also incentivising first-tier cities to engage in more green transformations and upgrade to improve the quality of green patents. Our findings also provide an important insight for the implementation of credit expansion policies and the achievement of sustainable development in countries around the world, particularly in developing countries. Finally, this paper argues that China’s credit expansion policy in 2009 has played a role in improving the quality of green innovation and improving green transformation.

A Trust-Enhanced Patent Recommendation Approach to University-Industry Technology Transfer

Technology transfer enables the technology from legal owners to be used by others, and it is essential for technology innovation in modern society. However, transferring technology from academia to industry has become a challenging task due to the "cultural divide" problem, where researchers in universities tend to focus on knowledge discovery, while companies focus on making profits with application of proven technologies. This creates a mistrust problem for companies to use academic patents invented by universities. Various recommendation methods have been proposed for technology transfer purposes, but few have addressed the trust issue caused by the cultural divide. This paper proposes a multidimensional trust-enhanced recommendation approach to promote academic patent trading. The approach extracts patent information, users' online interactions, and technology transfer information for recommendation calculation. It includes 1) measuring the degree of connectivity between companies and patents by the Personalized PageRank model; 2) measuring the trustworthiness of a potential patent transaction from the aspects of patent quality, inventor, and university; and 3) adopting a logistic regression model to integrate the above measurements. The results of our user-based experiment show that the proposed recommendation approach obtains higher average hit rate and higher willingness scores than current recommendation methods.

Peningkatan Kualitas Kinerja Pegawai dalam Pelayanan Administrasi Terpadu (PATEN) Pada Kantor Kecamatan Kelapa Dua Kabupaten Tangerang

Integrated Administrative Services (PATEN) at the Kelapa Dua District Office, Tangerang Regency, is the focus of research to improve the quality of employee performance. The background of this research is related to the evaluation of the PATENT process, level of community satisfaction, employee competency, application of technology, management role, and community participation. This research aims to analyze obstacles in administrative services, evaluate employee competence, and increase the effectiveness of the use of technology. Through quantitative and qualitative approaches, the research results describe current conditions and provide recommendations for improvement. The results show that there are obstacles in the PATENT process and the need to increase employee competency. Management needs to increase the application of technology and invite community participation. The conclusions of this research emphasize the need for improvements in various aspects to improve the quality of administrative services. The implications of this research include increasing efficiency, community satisfaction, and employee welfare. Therefore, this research makes a positive contribution to efforts to improve the quality of PATENTS and public services at the local level.

Exploring the Challenges Faced by ‘Examination’ Phase of Intellectual Property (IP) Life Cycle – A Pilot Study

This pilot study delves into challenges during the 'Examination' phase of the Intellectual Property (IP) life cycle, focusing on complexities in IP search. By addressing limitations in existing databases and the dynamic nature of technology, the study aims to comprehend their impact on decision-making. Employing qualitative interviews and developmental research over 16 weeks, the study identifies challenges, explores their specific aspects, and establishes a foundation for future research. Innovators underscore the crucial role of IP search in grant timelines, commercial use, and protection, emphasizing challenges in terminology and databases. Legally, IP search challenges impact accuracy, validity, and infringement risks, necessitating engagement with legal professionals and advanced tools for compliance and precision. Private companies perceive IP search challenges as pivotal for operations, requiring advanced technologies and engagement with IP experts. IP service providers face challenges in data complexity, terminology, and cross-jurisdictional differences, investing in research and advanced tools for accurate search services. Government offices see IP search challenges as vital for promoting innovation, focusing on patent quality and supporting domestic industries. Educators encounter challenges impacting information access, emphasizing collaboration and specialized tools for teaching enhancement. Respondents in the pilot study highlight challenges in readability, articulation, and translation during IP search examination. Process standardization issues and participants' knowledge levels in legal and technical aspects are crucial considerations. Limitations in existing tools and significant efforts throughout the IP life cycle are also emphasized. Findings suggest a need for improvements in language, standardization, legal knowledge, software functionality, and educational approaches to comprehensively address IP search challenges.

Assessing the Quality of Financial Technology Patents Through the Development of a Patent Quality Index for Comparing Jurisdictions, Technical Domains, and Leading Organizations

This article examines the issue of patent quality in the Financial Technology (FinTech) field and proposes a way of assessing patent quality through the development of a patent quality index based on key indicators proposed in the literature. The index uses a sample of 16 387 patents in the FinTech field registered over 20 years to assess the average quality of patents. To illustrate the utility of the index, the 1) top geographic jurisdictions, 2) top technical domains, and 3) leading organizations were analyzed to map out patterns of intellectual property registration and protection. This article provides significant insights on leading patent jurisdictions, illustrating the growing impact on FinTech of jurisdictions, such as the Republic of Korea, and the focus of patents within the USA in particular domains, such as payment protocols, e-commerce, and identification mechanisms. This article contributes to both theory and practice through the development and validation of a novel patent quality index, which has significant utility to multiple stakeholders and advances knowledge on assessing patent quality. Furthermore, by surfacing a positive association between the quality of an organization's FinTech patents and earnings, the article illustrates the value to organizations in developing high-quality patents in this field.