Research and reports

In this article, Professor Erika Leitzen argues that critics of so-called “evergreening” of healthcare patents have an ulterior motive: to deny drug innovators the right to enjoy the exclusivity, and the resulting pricing advantages, their patents afford them. She says understanding this requires unpacking the regulatory landscape and market more carefully, and paying closer attention to word choice.

The U.S. Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property provides an overview of the Trump Administration’s intellectual property enforcement strategy and policy efforts.

In this article, Matthew Noble, Jane Mutimear and Richard Vary examine the difficulties in charting the leadership of companies in the 5G Standard Essential Patent (“SEP”) industry, and demonstrate how different assumptions can drastically affect the results. Our article investigates: the difficulties in making such an assessment; how variable the results are to the underlying assumptions; and, the importance of being transparent when publishing patent portfolio analytics, especially with regard to 5G SEPs.

This paper by Gaetan de Rassenfosse looks for traces of discrimination against foreigners in the patent prosecution process, building on earlier work. It focuses on the case of China, looking in particular at patent applications declared as essential to a technological standard, so called standard-essential patents (SEPs). It finds there is discrimination in the treatment of such patent applications, which are less likely to be granted and/or to take longer to grant.

The WTO Secretariat published this new information note warning of possible increases to trade costs due to COVID-19 disruptions. The note examines the pandemic’s impact on key components of trade costs, particularly those relating to travel and transport, trade policy, uncertainty, and identifies areas where higher costs may persist even after the pandemic is contained.

This report updates the USPTO’s 2019 report on U.S. women inventor-patentees, “Progress and Potential,” using three years of new data, covering 2017 through 2019. It provides new information on women’s participation in the U.S. patent system, finding, among other things, that women make up an increasing share of all new entrants to the patent system, rising from about 5% of new inventor-patentees in 1980 to 17.3% by 2019. Innovation Council supports efforts to collect data on participation by minorities in IP systems. Data collection is the first step towards policymaking to support better access for minorities, including but not only women, to IP tools they can use to grow their businesses.

The World Intellectual Property Report 2017 and Economic Research Working Paper No. 41 examine the crucial role of intangibles such as technology, design and branding in international manufacturing. The WIPO 2017 report examines global value chains for three products – coffee, photovoltaic energy cells, and smartphones. The Working Paper uses data on individual smartphones as well as industry data to identify which smartphone firms capture the most value.

This report reveals trends in patenting of artificial intelligence (AI) innovations, the top players in AI from industry and academia, and the geographical distribution of AI-related patent protection and scientific publications. Its findings are accompanied throughout by commentary and industry perspectives from more than 20 of the world’s leading experts in AI, making it of particular interest to business leaders, researchers, and policymakers.

The Global Innovation Forum is a nonprofit startup that connects entrepreneur, small business, corporate, development, and university communities with policymakers to explore the opportunities and challenges of engaging in the global marketplace.

This 2014 paper by Doug Lippoldt and Mark Schultz presents information about trade secrets protection, management, and role in innovation. The authors recommend actions that policymakers can take to improve trade secrets regimes. The paper was published as part of the E15 initiative of ICTSD. Although old, the analysis is still relevant to those interested in understanding trade secrets.

Innovative SMEs are important drivers of economic growth, job creation, and innovation in every country.  These case studies from the EPO demonstrate how European SMEs, across sectors and countries, leverage IP rights for growth. It also highlights the challenges they face in securing, enforcing, and effectively managing their IP rights.