Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Fontana, Roberto 
Author-Email: roberto.fontana@unibocconi.it
Author-Name: Geuna, Aldo
Author-Email: aldo.geuna@unito.it
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Turin
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.est.unito.it/
Title: The Nature of Collaborative Patenting Activities.
Abstract: We investigate the reasons why different governance modes are used in a sample of successful collaborative patenting activities in Europe. 
First we show that collaboration activities in the patenting process are much more common than one may expect by l
ooking only at information on co-assignment. Indeed, collaborative patenting activity accounts for more than a 
quarter of all patents in our sample. This figure is about eight times higher than that from co-assignment data 
(usually considered to assess cooperation in patenting). We then examine the impact of organizational, individual 
and project determinants on the choice of three possible modes of governance: coassignment,co-invention, collaborative 
agreement. We find that higher project complexity and technological scope are associated to tighter modes of 
governance. We also find a significant negative relationship between licensing and co-assignment, thus providing 
some support to the view that some licensing can be the result of ex-ante legal agreements rather than of the 
presence of a market for technology. Finally, inventor specific characteristics matter too. In particular, age 
increases the probability of choosing looser governance modes while better education is associated to tighter modes.
Length: 46 pages
Creation-Date: 2009-06
File-URL:http://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati_wp/wp2009dip_l_b/10_wp_momigliano.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Handle: RePEc:uto:labeco:200910