Cockburn MacGarvie Muller (2010) - Patent Thickets Licensing And Innovative Performance

• This page is referenced in the Patent Thicket Literature Review
• This page is listed on the PTLR Core Papers page

Reference

• Cockburn, I.M., MacGarvie, M.J. and Müller , E. (2010), "Patent thickets, licensing and innovative performance", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol.19, No.3, pp.899--925

@article{cockburn2010patent,
  title={Patent thickets, licensing and innovative performance},
  author={Cockburn, I.M. and MacGarvie, M.J. and M{\"u}ller, E.},
  journal={Industrial and Corporate Change},
  volume={19},
  number={3},
  pages={899--925},
  year={2010},
  abstract={We examine the relationship between fragmented intellectual property (IP) rights and the innovative performance of firms, taking into consideration the role played by in-licensing of IP. We find that firms facing more fragmented IP landscapes have a higher probability of in-licensing. We observe a negative relationship between IP fragmentation and innovative performance, but only for firms that engage in in-licensing. In contrast, greater IP fragmentation is associated with higher innovative performance for firms that do not in-license. Furthermore, the effects of fragmentation on innovation also appear to depend on the size of a firm’s patent portfolio. These results suggest that the effects of fragmentation of upstream IP rights are not uniform, and instead vary according to the characteristics of the downstream firm.},
  discipline={Mgmt, Econ},
  research_type={Empirical},
  industry={},
  thicket_stance={},
  thicket_stance_extract={},
  thicket_def={},
  thicket_def_extract={},  
  tags={},
  filename={Cockburn MacGarvie Muller (2010) - Patent Thickets Licensing And Innovative Performance.pdf}
}

File(s)

• Download the PDF
• Repository record

Abstract

We examine the relationship between fragmented intellectual property (IP) rights and the innovative performance of firms, taking into consideration the role played by in-licensing of IP. We find that firms facing more fragmented IP landscapes have a higher probability of in-licensing. We observe a negative relationship between IP fragmentation and innovative performance, but only for firms that engage in in-licensing. In contrast, greater IP fragmentation is associated with higher innovative performance for firms that do not in-license. Furthermore, the effects of fragmentation on innovation also appear to depend on the size of a firm’s patent portfolio. These results suggest that the effects of fragmentation of upstream IP rights are not uniform, and instead vary according to the characteristics of the downstream firm.