2006/04 LEM Working Paper Series


The Market for Patents in Europe

Alfonso Gambardella, Paola Giuri, Alessandra Luzzi
  Keywords
 
Licensing, Patent scope, Complementary assets, Firm size, Markets for technology.


  JEL Classifications
 
D45, O32, O34.


  Abstract
 
By using the PatVal-EU dataset we find that the most important determinant of patent licensing is firm size. Patent breadth, value, protection, and other factors suggested by the literature also have an impact, but not as important. In addition, most of these factors affect the willingness to license, but not whether a license actually takes place. We discuss why this suggests that there are transaction costs in the markets for technology. The issue is important because many potential licenses are not licensed suggesting that the markets for technology can be larger, with implied economic benefits.


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