International Harmonization of the Patent-Issuing Rules
31 Pages Posted: 22 Mar 2012
Date Written: March 22, 2012
Abstract
With the America Invents Act of 2011, the U.S. changed its patent-issuing rule from first-to-invent to first-to-file, the international norm. We investigate the effect of such a policy change in a two-country model of R&D competition for two sequential (basic and final) inventions. We find that a switch never speeds up basic research. A delay is more likely especially in industries where the final product generates more value in the U.S. Simulations show that a delay in basic research also retards final invention, decreasing world welfare.
Keywords: TRIPS, first-to-file, first-to-invent, international patent law harmonization, sequential innovation, R&D competition
JEL Classification: F1, O3
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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