DP5971 Claiming More: The Increased Voluminosity of Patent Applications and its Determinants

Author(s): Dominique Guellec , Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie , Nicolas van Zeebroeck

Publication Date: December 2006

Keyword(s): patent voluminosity , patent applications , IP strategy , claim drafting , patent systems

JEL(s): O31 , O34 , O50

Programme Areas: Industrial Organization

Link to this Page: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP5971.asp.asp

The joint increase in the number and size of patents filed around the world puts the patent system under pressure. This paper analyses the sources of this surge in number of claims and pages of patent applications at the EPO. Four hypotheses are scrutinized: the diffusion of national drafting practices, the increasing complexity of inventions, the emergence of new sectors, and new patenting strategies. The results show that the increasing voluminosity is explained by all these hypotheses and suggest that the diffusion of the US model through the PCT is one of the major factors driving the size of EPO patent applications.