The US patent system in transition: policy innovation and the innovation process

This paper surveys the major changes in patent policy and practice that hav e occured in the last two decades in the U.S., and reviews the existing ana lyses by the economists that attempt to measure the impacts these changes h ave had on the processes of technological change. It also reviews the broad er theoretical and empirical literature that bears on the expected effects of changes in patent policy. Despite the significance of the policy changes and the wide availability of detailed data relating to patenting, robust c onclusions regarding the empirical consequences for technological innovatio n of changes in patent policy are few. Possible reasons for these limited r esults are discussed, and possible avenues for future research are suggeste d. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.