The Valuation of Patents Using Third-Party Data: The Ocean Tomo 300 Patent Index

Abstract

This study represents the first investigation of the ability of the financial marketplace to value patent assets via exploiting the informational content of a widely-quoted stock market patent index known as the Ocean Tomo 300 Patent Index (OT 300). The results clearly suggest that the OT 300 “works,” in the sense that the index generates buy-and-hold returns economically and statistically in excess of those of the market as a whole as well as a specially-created 300-firm benchmark portfolio composed of other very liquid patent-holding firms.

Keywords: market efficiency; patent valuation; Ocean Tomo; market index

JEL Classification: G1