
Software Patents > Reviews > Digital Dilemma 2000 > Bessen & H 2003/05 > Bessen & M 2000 > Kortum & L 1998
Bessen & M 2000	Somaya & T 2000	Waterson & I 1998	Hall & H 1999	Kortum & L 1998

Kortum & Lerner 1998: What is behind the recent surge in patenting

Since the late 1980s, the number of patents granted to US companies by the USPTO has sharply risen. Many people believe that this is due to a more patent-friendly policy created by political changes in the early 80s such as the Bayh-Dole act and the institution of the Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). This study collects statistical data to suggest that a surge in patentable innovation and an improvement in patent-oriented innovation managment may be more important causes. It also shows that software and biotech, while considered to be the most important areas of innovation, still amount for a total of only about 5% of the US patents. While patent-oriented innovation was on the rise, R&D investments on the whole dropped. This is one of a series of studies by Samuel Kortum and Josh Lerner from the Department of Economics of Boston University.

title:: Kortum & Lerner 1998: What is behind the recent surge in patenting
source:: RP RP 28(1999) 1-22

Research on the MacroEconomic Effects of Patents: We try to keep track of economic and other research on the effects of patents.