Mergers, Acquisitions and Flows of Agbiotech Intellectual Property

Abstract:     
A new, inclusive collection of 11,000 agricultural biotechnology utility patents issued between 1988 and 2002 is related to characteristics of agbiotech, seed, chemical, diversified multinational and European firms. The patents are classified into nine technologies, and mergers and acquisitions among the firms are considered in tracking flows of different technologies resulting from industry consolidation. Results indicate that agbiotech and seed companies contributed most of the patents that flowed across firm-types as the targets of acquisitions by the larger firms. None of the larger firms merged with firms of other types and across types they held similar portfolios of technologies, but with different degrees of focus. The database is publicly available and web-searchable offering the opportunity to all researchers for numerous extensions.

Keywords: Agbiotech utility patents, Input industry consolidation

Accepted Paper Series