University Patenting in Germany before and after 2002: What Role Did the Professors' Privilege Play?

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. We examine ownership patterns of German university-invented patents before and after the abolition of the 'professors' privilege' in 2002 to explore how the legal change affected patenting activities. Our data show a shift from individually-owned and firmowned patents to university-owned patents, which becomes increasingly strong over the years. Differences in the patent experience of inventors and universities further help explain the variance in ownership patterns. Both experienced and inexperienced inventors are affected by the legal change. Terms of use: Documents inJEL Classifications: O33, O34, O38

Regional public research, higher education, and innovative start-ups: an empirical investigation

“…One reason is that universities and other public research institutes in Germany are to different degrees selective with respect to patenting inventions so the number of patents is not a meaningful indicator of innovative output. A second reason is a change in the legal framework for university patenting that led to considerable change in patenting behavior during the period of analysis (for details, see Proff, Buenstorf and Hummel, 2012).…”

The dynamics of inter-regional collaboration: an analysis of co-patenting

“…If the link cannot be maintained over time, it is likely that the academics will search for new partners because they either need funding or are interested in the commercialization of research findings. It is known that the amount of academic patenting has increased over time (von Proff et al 2012) and, although patents display only a part of all science-industry links, the rise in patenting indicates an orientation towards industrial application and commercialization of academic research. An increasing use of academic knowledge in industry (not only academic patents) has been found by Kim et al (2005) as well as Mansfield (1998) empirically.…”

To invent and let others innovate: a framework of academic patent transfer modes

“…Results show that ownership of academic patents is distributed between academic inventors, universities (public and private research organisations), TTOs, and small, medium-sized and large companies (von Proff et al 2012). In addition to analyses of the distribution of academic patent owners, investigations have been made into factors influencing the likelihood of patent transfer (Serrano 2010) and licensing (Dechenaux et al 2008;Elfenbein 2007;Shane 2002).…”