Download This PaperDo Applicant Patent Citations Matter?
7th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies Paper
Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 401
Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 1656568
42 Research Policy 844 (2013)
11 Pages Posted: 10 Aug 2010 Last revised: 24 Apr 2020
Date Written: April 24, 2012
Abstract
Patent law both imposes a duty on patent applicants to submit relevant prior art to the PTO and assumes that examiners use this information to determine an application's patentability. In this paper, we test the validity of these assumptions by studying the use made of applicant-submitted prior art by delving into the actual prosecution process in over a thousand different cases. We find, to our surprise, that patent examiners effectively ignore almost all applicant-submitted art, relying almost exclusively on prior art they find themselves. Our findings have significant implications for a number of important legal and policy disputes, not least of which is the soundness of the strong presumption of validity the law grants issued patents.
Keywords: Patent, Intellectual Property, Examiner, Inequitable Conduct, Presumption of Validity, Empirical, Prior Art, Patent Prosecution
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Christopher Anthony Cotropia
George Washington University - Law School ( email )
2000 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20052
United States
Johns Hopkins University - Carey Business School ( email )
100 International Drive
Baltimore, MD 21202
United States