The impact of the timing of patent allowance on technology licensing performance: evidence from university invention commercialization
研究了大学技术许可中专利授权时机（许可发生在授权前还是后）对许可绩效的影响，发现授权前许可更易导致绩效不佳，但仅当发明人与被许可方无合作经验时显著。
This paper investigates the impact of the timing of patent rights on licensing performance in the context of university technology licensing. We provide an argument that the timing of patent allowance, i.e., a legal event that clarifies patent rights, in the technology licensing phase can alter licensing performance by shifting technology valuation, as well as behavioral dynamics, in the process of commercialization. By analyzing inventions disclosed from Stanford University, we find that preallowance licensing (i.e., entering a licensing arrangement prior to patent allowance), compared to postallowance licensing, is negatively associated with licensing performance by increasing the chances of licensing underperformance. However, licensing underperformance associated with preallowance licensing is only significant when the inventor and licensee do not have prior collaboration experience. This study emphasizes the importance of understanding the temporal condition of appropriability in the route for technology commercialization by revealing the patent‐licensing timing sequence as a source of variation in university technology licensing.