This paper estimates the international diffusion of technical knowledge using patent citations. We control for self-citations and for procedural differences between patent offices using equivalent patents. We find that (1) there are clear biases in patent examination processes that generate citations in the two offices; (2) at the EPO there is a strong localization effect at the country level, and the size is comparable to that found at the USPTO; (3) technological fields have different properties of diffusion in the two patent offices that do not depend on a patent office bias; (4) using EPO data, the US is not the leading country in terms of citations made and received, as occurs at the USPTO.
International knowledge diffusion and home-bias effect : do USPTO & EPO patent citations tell the same story? / E. Bacchiocchi; F. Montobbio. - In: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS. - ISSN 0347-0520. - STAMPA. - 112:3(2010), pp. 441-470. [10.1111/j.1467-9442.2010.01614.x]
International knowledge diffusion and home-bias effect : do USPTO & EPO patent citations tell the same story?
E. Bacchiocchi;
2010
Abstract
This paper estimates the international diffusion of technical knowledge using patent citations. We control for self-citations and for procedural differences between patent offices using equivalent patents. We find that (1) there are clear biases in patent examination processes that generate citations in the two offices; (2) at the EPO there is a strong localization effect at the country level, and the size is comparable to that found at the USPTO; (3) technological fields have different properties of diffusion in the two patent offices that do not depend on a patent office bias; (4) using EPO data, the US is not the leading country in terms of citations made and received, as occurs at the USPTO.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.