A quality index for patent systems

This paper presents a quality index for patent systems. The index is composed of nine operational design components that shape the transparency and stringency of patent systems and affect the extent to which they comply with patentability conditions. Seven components are related to rules and regulations (e.g., grace period, opposition process and continuation-in-parts), while two components measure patent offices’ resource allocation policy (i.e., workload per examiner and incentives). The index is computed for 32 national patent systems, and displays a high degree of heterogeneity across countries. Cross-sectional quantitative analyses suggest that the demand for patent rights is lower in patent systems with a higher quality index, controlling for research efforts, patent fees and the “strength” of enforcement mechanisms. These results have important policy and research (metrics) implications.

► A quality index is computed for 32 national patent systems.
► The index includes 9 components measuring stringency and transparency.
► There is a high heterogeneity across countries.
► The higher the quality index, the smaller the demand for patents.
► Foreign applications are much more sensitive to fees and patent quality than domestic applications.