TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hall,Bronwyn H.
AU  - Ham,Rose Marie
TI  - The Patent Paradox Revisited: Determinants of Patenting in the US Semiconductor Industry, 1980-94
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7062
PY  - 1999
Y2  - March 1999
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7062
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7062.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
AB  - This paper examines the patenting behavior of firms in an industry characterized by rapid technological change and cumulative innovation. Recent evidence suggests that semiconductor firms do not rely heavily on patents, despite the strengthening of US patent rights in the early 1980s. Yet the propensity of semiconductor firms to patent has risen dramatically over the past decade. This paper explores this apparent paradox by analyzing the patenting activities of almost 100 US semiconductor firms during 1980-94.  The results suggest that stronger patents may have facilitated entry by firms in niche product markets, while spawning  patent portfolio races' among capital-intensive firms.
ER  -