Is the Patent System an Even Playing Field? The Effect of Patent Attorney Firms
研究美、欧、日、韩、中五国专利局审查决定，发现专利律师对专利授权有显著影响，优质律师比优质发明更能帮助获得垄断权，尤其在软件和ICT等快速变化领域，导致专利制度不公。
Abstract The patent system underpins the business model of some of the fastest‐growing companies. Used appropriately, it should support frontier technologies and nurture new firms. Used perniciously, it can stifle innovation and protect established technological behemoths. We analyze patent examination decisions at the American, European, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese patent offices and find evidence that patent attorneys have a surprisingly significant role in the patent system. Our results suggest that some forces within the examination system maintain the uneven playing field by allocating monopoly rights to inventors with better access to influential attorneys, rather than leveling it by favoring inventors with better, nonobvious ideas. Attorney quality is most important, vis‐à‐vis invention quality, in less codified and more rapidly changing technology areas such as software and ICT.