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Claiming More: The Increased Voluminosity of Patent Applications and its Determinants
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Claiming More: The Increased Voluminosity of Patent Applications and its Determinants

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  • van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno
  • Guellec, Dominique
  • van Zeebroeck, Nicolas

Abstract

The joint increase in the number and size of patents filed around the world puts the patent system under pressure. This paper analyses the sources of this surge in number of claims and pages of patent applications at the EPO. Four hypotheses are scrutinized: the diffusion of national drafting practices, the increasing complexity of inventions, the emergence of new sectors, and new patenting strategies. The results show that the increasing voluminosity is explained by all these hypotheses and suggest that the diffusion of the US model through the PCT is one of the major factors driving the size of EPO patent applications.

Suggested Citation

  • van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno & Guellec, Dominique & van Zeebroeck, Nicolas, 2006. "Claiming More: The Increased Voluminosity of Patent Applications and its Determinants," CEPR Discussion Papers 5971, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5971
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Patent voluminosity; Patent applications; Ip strategy; Claim drafting; Patent systems;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General

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