Patentable subject matter historically constituted a significant bar to patentability. However, technological growth coupled with the expansion of patent law under the Federal Circuit has left patentable subject matter largely irrelevant for practical purposes. Although presenting easily...

Patent scope is central to the sale of ideas, which can spur economic growth and provide significant gains from trade. Awarding an inventor a patent on a new idea partially solves a commitment problem that would otherwise prevent the inventor from selling the idea. (Arrow, 1962). In the absence...

This paper estimates the causal effect of being a first mover in the patent space by charting invention in a vector space model of technological relatedness and timing. Relative to close second movers, we find that first movers are more likely to prosecute a patent application to issuance and to...

This paper presents an easy-to-use measure of patent scope that is grounded both in patent law and in the practices of patent attorneys. We validate our measure by showing both that patent attorneys' subjective assessments of scope agree with our estimates, and that the behaviour of patenters is...

Responsive to calls from lawmakers, the USPTO has recently announced a broad set of measures to increase the quality of drug patents ex ante, before they are granted, as a way of in the US. However, there is currently no way to tell which patent applications cover inventions that will lead to...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) receives more prior art submissions by patent applicants than its patent examiners have the capacity to process. Although applicant prior art submissions are highly likely to contain references material to prosecution, evidence suggests that...