Software Patents, Inventors and Mobility

Abstract

This paper is an exploratory empirical study of the mobility of software inventors, which uniquely utilizes patent data for that purpose. Mobility of inventors is often associated with knowledge spillovers. Consequently, there is a potentially significant bi-directional link between mobility of inventors and property rights protection. The study of the mobility of inventors is, therefore, of particular interest in the software industry, in which there has been a significant and controversial shift towards patent protection. Thus, this study analyzes the trends in the software industry; then characterizes the factors that influence the mobility of software inventors, and shows how this mobility, in turn, affects the quality of their patents.

Keywords: Software Patents, Inventors, Mobility

JEL Classification: J6, O31, O34