题　目：Patent Litigation, Patent Value and the Direction of Innovation: Evidence from China

嘉　宾：HUIYAN ZHANG, Ph.D. candidate, Carnegie Mellon University

主持人：谢露群  副教授  上海交通大学安泰经济与管理学院

时　间：2022年11月25日（周五） 09:30-11:00

地　点：腾讯会议 (校内师生如需会议号和密码，请发送电邮至xuziqing@sjtu.edu.cn获取)

内容简介:

This paper investigates the role of patent enforcement in the real options value of patents and firm patenting strategy. I take China as the institutional context and examine how its damage awards doctrine and patent remedy enhancement efforts impact the private value of patents and the firm innovative activities. To establish a real options model of patent litigation, I construct a finite-horizon stochastic dynamic model and recover key parameters of firms' patenting and litigation processes using China’s patent litigation data. The structural estimates and counterfactual simulations show that strengthening patent enforcement by promoting damage awards significantly boosts the private value of utility models- the type of patents that do not go through rigorous examination- while leaving the private value of invention patents- the type of patents that go through examination and are superior to utility models- almost unchanged. To explore the implication of patent strategy, I run a series of difference-in-differences analyses on a comprehensive sample of innovating Chinese firms. I find that firms with higher litigation exposure tend to patent more utility models when the patent reform enhances damage awards. This tendency to file more utility models is more pronounced among financially constrained firms. The "treated" firms are more likely to switch from low-quality invention patents to utility models.

演讲人简介：

I am a Ph.D. candidate in technological change and entrepreneurship from Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University, an interdisciplinary academic program co-hosted with Catolica Lisbon School of Business and Economics.

My research concentrates on the economics of innovation with a focus on intellectual property rights and firm innovation strategy. I am particularly interested in what incentivizes firms to innovate, how firms strategically transform their (patented) inventions into competitive advantage, and how firms’ innovation strategies are affected by their institutional contexts. My approach to research combines the use of formal models, modern data-intensive empirical techniques, and new or previously underutilized microdata. One thread of my work focuses on the controversies surrounding the Chinese patent system and its implications on firm strategy in emerging markets. My research agenda also explores the role of information disclosure in firms’ innovation strategies.

Prior to my doctoral study, I was a full-time junior research fellow affiliated with China's Patent Office. During my four-year work experience, I conducted several research projects, as both the project leader and team member, on China's patent policy, annual patent surveys, and firm innovation incentives.

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