Making the patent scope consistent with the invention: Evidence from Japan

It is a crucial function of patent examination to make the patent scope consistent with the contribution of the invention to the state of the art. We assess this function using newly developed data on the scope of Japanese patent applications and grants. We find that the scope was narrowed in two th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economics & management strategy 2018-09, Vol.27 (3), p.607-625
Main Authors: Okada, Yoshimi, Naito, Yusuke, Nagaoka, Sadao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
claim length
first claim
Grants
K29
narrowing of patent scope
O31
O34
O38
patent examination
patent scope
quality of prior art disclosure
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Summary:It is a crucial function of patent examination to make the patent scope consistent with the contribution of the invention to the state of the art. We assess this function using newly developed data on the scope of Japanese patent applications and grants. We find that the scope was narrowed in two thirds of the grants, both the incidence and the extent of narrowing increased when the applicant chose broad initial scope and decreased when the quality of the applicant's disclosure of prior art was high, and that important applications experienced narrowing more frequently, as one expects from rational examination.
ISSN:1058-6407
1530-9134
DOI:10.1111/jems.12266