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Recent research on the economics of patents is surveyed. The topics covered include theoretical and empirical evidence on patents as incentives for innovation, the effectiveness of patents for invention disclosure, patent valuation, and the design of patent systems. We also look at some current policy areas, including software and business method patents, university patenting, and the growth in patent litigation.

We use a rich longitudinal dataset on department-level productivity in a contemporary field of science to identify and decompose the causal impact of hiring a star on local knowledge production. Specifically, we estimate the relative roles of knowledge spillovers versus recruiting externalities as they affect co-located researchers who are related or unrelated to the star in idea space. Hiring a star does not increase overall incumbent productivity, but this aggregate effect hides off setting effects on colleagues who are related (positive) versus unrelated (negative). Star hires improve subsequent joiner quality for both related and unrelated scientists, although the effect is significantly larger for related scientists. The overall positive impact of the star on department-level productivity is mainly due to joiner-quality effects. Furthermore, the productivity impact is more pronounced at mid- and lower-ranked institutions, suggesting implications for the optimal spatial organization of science and university strategies aimed at ascending departmental rankings.

This paper describes the “USPTO Trademark Case Files Dataset” (dataset) a new dataset of trademark applications and registrations derived from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) main database for administering trademark case files. The USPTO is releasing these data for the first time in a form convenient for public use and academic research, consistent with the agency’s responsibility to make patent and trademark information available to the public. The dataset provides detailed information on 6.7 million trademark applications filed with or registrations issued by the USPTO between January 1870 and January 2012, including ownership, mark characteristics, classification, prosecution events, and renewal history. This paper provides a comprehensive description of the dataset, including discussions of the legal framework affecting and the administrative processes generating these data. We provide a “first look” at the information the dataset captures and present key trends in trademark applications, registrations, and renewals. We highlight data elements valuable to researchers and the general public, and discuss issues that may arise in using these data. In releasing these data, we aim to encourage new streams of research on trademarks and what they indicate about their users, the strategies for employing them, and the wider economic impacts that these data will help uncover.

The Munich Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research (MCIER) at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law cordially invites you to the seminar of Professor Marie Thursby, Ph.D. and Professor Jerry Thursby, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, Scheller College of Business, University of Atlanta).