Patent indicators are used in the evaluation of industrial research at
many different levels of aggregation. They are used in policy-level a
pplications to look at industrial research capability from a national
or regional viewpoint comparing, for example, EU regional technology w
ith that of Japan and North America. They are used in strategic-level
applications to look at industrial research from a company viewpoint.
For example, CHI Research, Inc. has used them to compare auto company
research output company-by-company and technology-by-technology. They
are used in tactical-level applications, typically involving technolog
y tracing - where the performance of research groups is measured again
st one another within the domain of a specific technology. At the tact
ical level these indicators can characterize industrial research in th
ree planes or stages: The early Precursor Plane, the current Technolog
y Plane and the future-oriented Successor Plane. Finally, at the most
precise level of evaluation, patent indicator techniques are now begin
ning to be used in the United States in establishing the value of pate
nt portfolios for cross-licensing purposes, and in patent infringement
litigation, where citation techniques demonstrate the importance and
utility of patented technology.