UNU-MERIT Working Papers Series
Determinants of quadic patenting: Market access, imitative threat, competition and strength of intellectual property rights
Can Huang & Jojo Jacob #2012-053This paper analyses firms' decisions to seek intellectual property
rights in global markets, particularly in China. We advance the notion
of quadic patent family, defined as a patent family that consists of
patent applications at the European Patent Office, the Japanese Patent
Office, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the national
patent office of a fourth country. We examine the determinants of quadic
patenting at the industry level for China, and at the country level for
a sample of 38 countries. Our results indicate that quadic patent
applications are driven by the need for accessing markets, and for
meeting the challenges of imitative threat and product market
competition.
Key Words: Quadic patent family, triadic patent family, patent,
innovation, imitative threat, Intellectual Property Right, China
JEL Classification: O31, O34
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