firms may protect their inventions by means of intellectual property rights, such as patents. By taking out a patent … functioning of the contemporary patent system. We find that patenting firms are being less confronted with imitation. The effect … of patents on the dissemination of R&D findings is, however, insignificant. Therefore, we conclude that patent …

firms may protect their inventions by means of intellectual property rights, such as patents. By taking out a patent … functioning of the contemporary patent system. We find that patenting firms are being less confronted with imitation. The effect … of patents on the dissemination of R&D findings is, however, insignificant. Therefore, we conclude that patent …

This paper investigates the role of patent protection in the global investment decisions of multinational firms. Using … comprehensive firm-level panel data of German multinationals, we investigate how changes in a host country’s patent protection … influence the extensive and intensive margin of foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions. We isolate the effect of patent …