The Effect of Patent Pools on Patenting and Innovation - Evidence from Contemporary Technology Standards

We analyze the effect of patent pools on the incentives to file patents related to a comprehensive sample of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) standards. We measure a positive effect of the announcement of a pool on the filing rates for standard-related patents. We identify an exogenous policy change between 1997 and 1999, when antitrust authorities adopted a more permissive stance towards pooling of patents. An important number of pools were created in the wake or in response to this policy change. Studying these pools, we find a significant increase in patenting rates after pool announcement. This increase in patenting is primarily attributable to future members of the pool, as confirmed by Instrumental Variable regressions using firm-level characteristics associated with a higher likelihood of joining a patent pool. Pool creations taking place in later years could be more easily anticipated. Indeed, we find that the announcements of later pools is preceded by unusually high levels of patenting. Furthermore, we show that pool announcements with a higher likelihood of successful pool creation are followed by a stronger increase in patenting. We find no significant effect of patent pool announcements on the number of citation-weighted patent files. JEL-Classification: L24, O34 Kewords: Patent Pools, Technology Standards, Patent Licensing, Innovation incen-