Patent Quality Control: A Comparison of U.S. Patent Reexaminations and European Patent Oppositions
نویسندگان
چکیده
We report the results of the first comparative study of the determinants and effects of patent oppositions in Europe and of reexaminations on corresponding patents issued in the United States. The analysis is based on a data set consisting of matched European Patent Office (EPO) and U.S. patents. Our analysis focuses on two broad technology categories—biotechnology and pharmaceuticals and computer hardware and software including semiconductors. Within these fields, we collected data on all EPO patents for which oppositions were filed at the EPO. We also constructed a random sample of EPO patents with no opposition in these technologies. We matched these EPO patents with the “equivalent” U.S. patents covering the same invention in the United States. Using the matched sample of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and EPO patents, we compared the determinants of opposition and of reexamination. Our results indicate that valuable patents are more likely to be challenged in both jurisdictions, but the rate of opposition at the EPO is more than thirty times higher than the rate of reexamination at the USPTO. Moreover, opposition leads to a revocation of the patent in about 35 percent of the cases and to a restriction of the patent right in another 33 percent of the cases. Reexamination results in a cancellation of the patent right in only 10 percent of all cases. We also find that reexamination is frequently initiated by the patentholders themselves.
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