The European Patent System is facing major challenges resulting from an extension of patentable subject matter leading to an increasing number of patent applications. The European Patent Office has responded with admirable flexibility, but continuing technological change and greater importance ascribed to patents are leading to lengthened examination periods, rising opposition figures and changing behaviour of patent applicants.

Stefan M. Wagner analyses problems associated with institutional changes (duration of patent examination and opposition mechanisms), the expansion of the patentable subject matter and organizational challenges for industrial patentees. The study is based on the empirical analysis of large scale datasets on European patents and employs advanced multivariate methods such as semi-parametric and panel-data regression methods.

Autorentext
Dr. Stefan M. Wagner ist wissenschaftlicher Assistent von Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., am Institut für Innovationsforschung, Technologiemanagement und Entrepreneurship der Universität München.

Inhalt
Modeling Probabilities of Patent Oppositions in a Bayesian Semiparametric Regression Framework.- The Duration of Patent Examination at the European Patent Office.- Business Method Patents in Europe and their Strategic Use Evidence from Franking Device Manufacturers.- An Empirical Analysis of Make-or-Buy Decisions in Patenting.