Author:
Caviggioli Federico,De Marco Antonio,Scellato Giuseppe,Ughetto Elisa
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine, for a sample of ten corporations in three industries (i.e. automotive suppliers, semiconductors, and computer networks), the different strategies that firms undertake when acquiring patent-protected technologies. In particular, the authors analyze and compare two alternative channels for patent acquisition: markets for technology (MFT) and merger and acquisition (M&A) processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors implement two types of analyses, at both patent and firm level. First, the authors perform an econometric analysis to evaluate whether acquired patented technologies differ in their patent bibliographic characteristics with respect to patent-protected technologies that have been developed internally by the examined firms. The authors then investigate the presence of differences in the characteristics of transacted patents acquired in the MFT or by means of M&A activities. Second, the authors take a firm-level perspective and examine the technology acquisition strategies adopted by selected companies to identify the presence of common patterns, industry-driven specificities and firm peculiarities.
Findings
The authors find that acquired patented technologies are, on average, more complex, of higher technical merit and the corresponding patents show a higher legal robustness. Econometric results reveal the presence of differences between M&A and MFT patents: the latter seem to protect less complex, and thus easier to trade, inventions. The analysis of the patterns of patent acquisitions at the firm level shows the presence of different strategies for the external sourcing of patented technologies, based on whether acquired patents protect core or non-core technology areas of the analyzed firms. Such patterns are discussed in the light of the different streams of the literature on intellectual property (IP) management.
Originality/value
This paper makes use of a new and comprehensive data set of the US patent transactions that took place between 2002 and 2010. The authors added detailed data on the evolution of the corporate trees of analyzed firms. The paper contributes to the literature on technology acquisitions and MFT by examining the different channels for patented technology acquisitions. The issue represents an emerging area of interest in the field of IP management.
Subject
Management Science and Operations Research,General Business, Management and Accounting
Reference52 articles.
1. Does patenting influence SME sales performance? A quantity and quality analysis of patents in Northern Italy;European Journal of Innovation Management,2015
2. Technological acquisitions and the innovation performance of acquiring firms: a longitudinal study;Strategic Management Journal,2001
3. Alcacer, J., Cantwell, J. and Gittelman, M. (2007), “Are licensing markets local? An analysis of the geography of vertical licensing agreements in bio-pharmaceuticals”, working paper, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA.
4. Patent protection, complementary assets, and firms’ incentives for technology licensing;Management Science,2006
5. Licensing the market for technology;Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization,2003
Cited by
18 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献