Data and Code for: Disclosure and Subsequent Innovation: Evidence from the Patent Depository Library Program
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Jeffrey L. Furman, Boston University Questrom School of Business; Markus Nagler, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; Martin Watzinger, University of Munich
Version: View help for Version V1
| Name | File Type | Size | Last Modified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | 03/11/2021 01:27:PM |
Project Citation:
Project Description
Abstract: How important is access to patent documents for subsequent innovation? We examine the expansion of the USPTO Patent Library system after 1975. Patent libraries provided access to patents before the Internet. We find that after patent library opening, local patenting increases by 8-20% relative to similar regions. Additional analyses suggest that disclosure of technical information drives this effect: inventors increasingly take up ideas from outside their region and the effect is strongest in technologies where patents are more informative. We thus provide evidence that disclosure plays an important role in cumulative innovation.
Scope of Project
O30 Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights: General
O34 Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
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