Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/27763 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 09-039
Publisher: 
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), Mannheim
Abstract: 
In recent years, firms have increasingly contributed to and been confronted with a patent landscape characterized by numerous but marginal inventions, overlapping claims and patent fences. Literature suggests that both the fragmentation of ownership and the threat of a firm's patent applications being blocked by competitors' patents lead to increased patenting and inlicensing activity. In this paper, we investigate the effect of expected blocking on firms' engagement in in- and out-licensing. Based on a sample of more than 400 German manufacturing firms our results show that firms engage in in- and out-licensing if technology competition increases which is in line with the argument that licensing can mitigate hold-up problems in technology markets.
Subjects: 
Licensing
blocking patents
discrete and complex technologies
technology competition
JEL: 
L24
O34
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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