Do Inventors Value Secrecy in Patenting? Evidence from the American Inventor's Protection Act of 1999

30 Pages Posted: 4 Nov 2012 Last revised: 29 Oct 2015

See all articles by Stuart J.H. Graham

Stuart J.H. Graham

Georgia Institute of Technology - Scheller College of Business

Deepak Hegde

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business

Date Written: December 2, 2014

Abstract

This study examines the revealed preferences of inventors towards secrecy in patenting by analyzing their disclosure choices before and after the enactment of the American Inventor’s Protection Act (AIPA) of 1999. We find that about 7.5% of U.S. patent applications use AIPA’s provisions to keep their inventions secret before patent grant. Small U.S. inventors, in particular, are more likely than large corporations to prefer disclosure over secrecy for their most important inventions. Our findings question the conventional wisdom -- which seems to have shaped important policy -- that the disclosure of patent applications harms U.S. invention by increasing the risk of imitation for small inventors.

Keywords: patents, intellectual property, American Inventor’s Protection Act

JEL Classification: O31, O32, O34

Suggested Citation

Graham, Stuart J.H. and Hegde, Deepak, Do Inventors Value Secrecy in Patenting? Evidence from the American Inventor's Protection Act of 1999 (December 2, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2170555 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2170555

Stuart J.H. Graham

Georgia Institute of Technology - Scheller College of Business ( email )

800 West Peachtree St. NW
Atlanta, GA 30308
United States
404-385-0953 (Phone)
404-894-6030 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.scheller.gatech.edu/graham

Deepak Hegde (Contact Author)

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business ( email )

44 West 4th Street
Suite 9-160
New York, NY NY 10012
United States

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