This paper examines the consequences of the differences in the timing of information disclosure between the U.S. and Japanese patent systems. Under the Japanese system it is possible for a firm to apply for a patent knowing the exact specifications of a rival's patent application. In contrast,...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Aoki, Reiko (Author), Prusa, Thomas J. (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge, Mass. 1995
Series:	National Bureau of Economic Research <Cambridge, Mass.>: NBER working paper series 5063
Subjects:	Patent laws and legislation > Japan Patent laws and legislation > United States Research, Industrial > Japan Research, Industrial > United States Patentrecht USA Japan
Summary:	This paper examines the consequences of the differences in the timing of information disclosure between the U.S. and Japanese patent systems. Under the Japanese system it is possible for a firm to apply for a patent knowing the exact specifications of a rival's patent application. In contrast, in the U.S. the only way a firm learns about a rival's innovation is upon the actual granting of the rival's patent. We argue that this difference enables Japanese firms to coordinate their R&D efforts better than their U.S. counterparts and that this, in turn, leads to smaller quality improvements under the Japanese system. We show that the creation/diffusion tradeoff of patents can be influenced not only by the scope and length of patent protection but also by other features of the patenting process.
Physical Description:	19, 7 S. graph. Darst.