Defensive Publishing by a Leading Firm
25 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2004 Last revised: 14 May 2014
Date Written: November 17, 2014
Abstract
I consider the use of defensive publishing by a firm with a patentable innovation in hand. Such publishing discloses technical information to rivals and foregoes the publisher's legal right to exclude, but also prevents rivals from patenting. My analysis identifies why firms choose defensive publishing over patenting and trade secrecy. I present summary data suggesting that defensive publishing has become more common recently, that the composition of firms using it is changing, and that it has emerged especially as a response to the fear of bad patents being issued in the area of software and business methods. These data are consistent with my theoretical results.
Keywords: Defensive publishing, bad patents, imperfect patent protection, software and business-method patents, sharing intellectual property
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
An Empirical Look at Software Patents
By James E. Bessen and Robert M. Hunt
-
The U.S. Patent System in Transition: Policy Innovation and the Innovation Process
-
Don't Fence Me in: Fragmented Markets for Technology and the Patent Acquisition Strategies of Firms
-
By Ashish Arora, Marco Ceccagnoli, ...
-
The Private Value of Software Patents
By Bronwyn H. Hall and Megan Macgarvie
-
Patent Scope and Innovation in the Software Industry
By Mark A. Lemley and Julie E. Cohen
-
Patent Scope and Innovation in the Software Industry
By Mark A. Lemley and Julie E. Cohen
-
By Alfonso Gambardella, Dietmar Harhoff, ...