TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hall,Bronwyn H.
AU  - Thoma,Grid
AU  - Torrisi,Salvatore
TI  - Financial Patenting in Europe
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14714
PY  - 2009
Y2  - February 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14714
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14714.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Bronwyn H. Hall
Dept. of Economics
549 Evans Hall
UC Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
Tel: 510/642-3878
Fax: 510/548-5561
E-Mail: bhhall@nber.org

Grid Thoma
School of Science and Technology
University of Camerino, Italy
Via Madonna delle Carceri, 9
62032 Camerino (MC)
E-Mail: grid05@gmail.com

Salvatore Torrisi
Department of Management
University of Bologna, Italy
Via Capo di Lucca 34 - 40126 Bologna
Tel: 011 39 051 2098061
Fax: 011 39 051 246411
E-Mail: torrisi@unibo.it
AB  - We take a first look at financial patents at the European Patent Office (EPO). As is the case at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the number of financial patents in Europe has increased significantly in parallel with significant changes in payment and financial systems. Scholars have argued that financial patents, like other business methods patents, have low value and are owned for strategic reasons rather than for protecting real inventions. We find that established firms in non-financial sectors with diversified patent portfolios own a large share of financial patents at the EPO. However, new specialized technology providers in the financial area also hold a number of such patents. Decisions on the financial patent applications take longer and they are more likely to be refused by the patent office, suggesting greater uncertainty over validity than for other patents. They are also more likely to be opposed, which is consistent with the fact that their other economic value indicators are higher.
ER  -