The vulnerability of patent value determinants

This paper presents a critical survey of the literature on the determinants of patent value. The contributions to the literature are essentially two-fold. First, significant inconsistencies across existing studies are underlined. Second, a sensitivity analysis shows strong dependencies of several 'classical' results on two main empirical dimensions, namely the choice of the dependent variables (indicator of patent value) and the sampling methodology. The new indicators of filing strategies put forward by van Zeebroeck and van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie (this journal) turn out to be the most robust and stable determinants.