The Economic Value of Patent Portfolios

This Discussion Paper is issued under the auspices of the Centre's research programme in INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Research disseminated by CEPR may include views on policy, but the Centre itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Centre for Economic Policy Research was established in 1983 as an educational charity, to promote independent analysis and public discussion of open economies and the relations among them. It is pluralist and non-partisan, bringing economic research to bear on the analysis of medium-and long-run policy questions. These Discussion Papers often represent preliminary or incomplete work, circulated to encourage discussion and comment. Citation and use of such a paper should take account of its provisional character. ABSTRACT The Economic Value of Patent Portfolios Patent holders may choose to protect innovations with single patents or to develop portfolios of multiple, related inventions. We propose a simple decision-making model in which patent-holders may allocate resources to either expanding the number of related patents or investing in higher value of patents in the portfolio. We estimate the derived value equation using portfolio value data from an inventor survey. We find that investments in individual inventions exhibit diminishing returns, and that much of the value of a portfolio depends on adding new inventions. These effects are less pronounced in high-techology industries, when the inventions rely on external information, and when the inventor holds a doctorate. We also find higher returns to an increase of the number of inventions when firms perceive patent protection to be strong. Thus, a higher number of inventions in a portfolio may reflect both genuine creation of value or stronger appropriability via patents.