Misclassification between Patent Offices: Evidence from a Matched Sample of Patent Applications
研究了欧洲专利局和日本专利局在专利审查中的错误分类程度，发现真正应被批准的申请被拒绝的概率为6.1%，而真正应被拒绝的申请被批准的概率为9.8%，但未发现授予“坏”专利的上升趋势。
In this paper, we estimate the extent of misclassification in patent examination decisions between the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO), that is, applications that are incorrectly refused a patent or incorrectly granted a patent. Using a proxy for inventive step as the predictor of the correct decision, we find that the probability that a 'true grant' application is refused is 6.1%, while the probability that a 'true refusal' application is granted is 9.8%. However, we find no evidence of an increasing trend of granting 'bad' patents at the EPO and JPO.