Rosemarie ZiedonisBoston University & NBER

Academy of Management

Professional Development Workshop (PDW) on Patent Data

August 2019

Patent Data & Management Research:

A Renaissance Period?

Are we suffering from

patent data fatigue?

Patent PDW Flash Back

# of IP-related articles published in 19 peer-

reviewed journals, 1986-2015

Source: Khoshsokhan & Ziedonis (2019). Based on keyword searches, we identify 1,167 “IP-related”

articles published between 1986 and 2015 in 19 journals. The journals include top peer-reviewed journals

for innovation research in management, economics, finance, policy, and law. The vast majority of IP-

related articles in the sample use patent data or focus on patents (vs non-patent) forms of IP.

IP-related articles as a share of all articles published in

selected journals by 5-year interval.

Source: Khoshsokhan & Ziedonis (2019).

Troublesome signs

1. Peers remark: “Not another patent paper!”

2. Referees remark: “Not another patent

paper!”

3. When you’re talking about X, Y, or Z (that

you think is important), people call you a

“patent person” and lose interest.

Are we entering a renaissance period?

Andrew Toole:

cool new data,

but know how

to use it!

Daniel Gross: do

“secret patents”

reduce follow-on

innovation & use?

Karin Hoisl &

colleagues: when

do social ties

”matter more” in

labor markets?

Evan Starr &

colleagues: how

can firms mitigate

ML prediction bias?

Masterful work!

Important & timely research questions Secrecy orders on the rise? (implications for firm IP strategy and innovation incentives)

What shapes geographic migration & career mobility of knowledge workers?

How can firms manage the strategic manipulation of data that “feeds” ML algorithms? (when does

human capital still matters)

Beautifully written; tight connection to the phenomenon

Careful distinction between descriptive vs. causal evidence

(and recognition that both matter!)

Integration of patent data with a gazillion other sources Daniel Gross’ Data Appendix = work of art

Hoisl & collagues map inventors to SSNs

Other examples: Kline et al. on who profits from patents (QJE 2019), Farre-Mensa, Hegde &

Ljungvist on what patents are worth (JF2019)

Refreshing use of the Patent Office & examination process

as an organizational context Choudhury, Starr & Agarwal 2019

See also Choudhury, Foroughi & Larson 2019; Balasubramanian et al. (Manag. Sci 2018).

Five Tips on Producing Your Masterpiece

with Patent Data

1. Tell us something new & interesting!

2. Ask Questions that Matter

Daniel Gross: do

“secret patents”

reduce follow-on

innovation & use?

Karin Hoisl &

colleagues: when

do social ties

”matter more” in

labor markets?

Evan Starr &

colleagues: how

can firms mitigate

ML prediction bias?

3. Don’t reinvent the wheel

Know the basics & move beyond them.

Places to start: Classic Hall, Jaffe, Trajenberg (2001) NBER working

paper on patents & citations data

Plus updates by…

• Jaffe & de Rassenfosse (2017, JAIST) on current best practices

• Kuhn, Younge & Marco (2019, RAND) w/ new evidence

Hall, Helmers, Rogers & Sina (2014, JEL) on formal &

informal property rights

4. Leverage New (Open! Transparent!

Well documented!) Data Sources

Examples:

USPTO Office of the Chief Economist website (and

not just patent data!):

• https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/ip-

policy/economic-research/research-datasets

Searle Center database on technology standards,

industry consortia, and innovation

• http://www.law.northwestern.edu/research-

faculty/searlecenter/innovationeconomics/data/

Matt Marx & Aaron Fuegi’s open data linking patent

citations to scientific publications • http://relianceonscience.org

5. Innovate!

https://gder.phpnet.org/rassenfosse/

14

Example: AI-related publications & patent families

WIPO Technology Trends on Artificial Intelligence (2019)

15

A global phenomenon

5. Innovate!

https://gder.phpnet.org/rassenfosse/ http://www.fabiangaessler.com/

http://jeffreymkuhn.com

Summary

To create your own masterpiece…

1. Tell us something new & interesting

2. Ask questions that matter

3. Don’t reinvent the wheel

4. Leverage new data sources – and heed

Andy Toole’s advice

5. Innovate!

References

Balasubramanian N, Lee J, Sivadasin J. 2018. Deadlines, work flows,

task sorting, and work quality. Management Science

Choudhury P, Starr E, Agarwal R. 2019. Machine learning and human

capital complementarities: Experimental evidence on bias mitigation, wp.

Choudhury P, Foroughi C, Larson B. 2019. (Live and) work from

anywhere: Geographic flexibility and productivity effects at the United

States Patent Office, wp.

Dorner M, Harhoff D, Hinz T, Hoisl K, Bender S. 2019. Social ties for

labor market access—lessons from the migration of East German

inventors, wp

Farre-Mensa J, Hegde D, Ljungqvist A. 2019. What is a patent worth?

Evidence from the US patent “lottery”. J. of Finance, forthcoming

Gross D. 2019. The consequences of invention secrecy: Evidence from

the USPTO Patent Secrecy Program in World War II, wp

References

Hall B, Helmers C, Rogers M, Sena V. 2014. The choice between formal

and informal property rights. J. Economic Literature

Hall B, Jaffe A, Trajtenberg M. 2001. NBER patent citations data file:

Lessons, insights, and methodological tools.

Jaffe A, de Rassenfosse G. 2017. Patent citation data in social science

research: overview and best practice. J. Association for Information

Science and Technology.

Khoshsokhan S, Ziedonis R. 2019. Three decades of research on

intellectual property: diminishing returns or renaissance period?, wp

Kline P, Petkova N, Williams H, Zidar O. 2019. Who profits from patents?

Rent-sharing at Innovative Firms. Quarterly J. of Economics.

Kuhn J, Younge K, Marco A. 2019. Patent citations reexamined. Rand J.

Economics, forthcoming.