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Patent Pools and the Direction of Innovation - Evidence from the 19th-century Sewing Machine Industry

Year: 2011

Type: report

Abstract: Patent pools allow a group of firms to combine their patents as if they were a single firm.Theoretical models predict that pools encourage innovation in pool technologies, albeit at the cost of innovation in substitutes.Empirical evidence is scarce because modern pools are too recent to allow empirical analyses.This article examines data on patents and innovations by new firms for a historical pool in the sewing machine industry (1856-1877) to examine effects on innovation.Contrary to theoretical predictions, this analysis suggests that pools may discourage innovation in pool technologies and shift R&D towards technologically inferior substitutes.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

DOI: 10.3386/w17573

Authors: Ryan Lampe, Petra Moser

Institutions: DePaul University, National Bureau of Economic Research, Stanford University

Language: English

Topic: Intellectual Property and Patents

Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W1588256539

Cites: 34

Cited by: 8

Related to: 10