Defending knowledge abroad
研究跨国公司如何根据创新来源国决定是否在海外起诉专利侵权，发现本地产生的创新因知识溢出风险更高而更可能被维权，且与竞争对手的知识活动重叠度也会影响决策。
Abstract Research Summary This article analyzes how innovation country‐of‐origin impacts the decisions of multinational corporations (MNCs) to defend their patents against infringement in foreign countries. We argue that MNCs have stronger incentives to defend their locally generated innovations (in foreign countries) than their home‐ or third‐country generated innovations (that have been transferred to foreign countries) because of the higher risk for knowledge spillovers for locally generated innovations. We also explore whether a higher level of multimarket overlap in knowledge activities with industry rivals increases MNC decisions to defend their best innovations. We examine data on infringement cases brought by foreign firms operating in the United States and find results consistent with our expectations. Additionally, when split by patents' country‐of‐origin, our findings reveal several interesting differences. Managerial Summary This article examines how several characteristics of firm innovations influence knowledge spillover risks and the decisions of MNCs to defend their patents against infringement in foreign countries. We argue that locally generated patents and those patents that are more important (in terms of value and usage) or more exposed to rivals are more likely to be defended against infringement in foreign countries. Using data on firms in high tech industries and their patent infringement cases, we show support for our arguments while also revealing several interesting differences across the litigation decisions of MNCs when considering the patents' country‐of‐orign.