Abstract:Digital innovation is a typical patent-intensive innovation. In recent years, the strategic patent behavior in this field has become increasingly prominent, which has a negative impact on digital innovation that cannot be ignored. It is necessary to study the strategic patent behavior of digital innovation in depth. The analysis of time series data shows that family patents have led to a sharp increase in the number of patents in this field. At the same time, patent litigation also shows an explosive growth trend. Research on this basis shows that family patents and patent litigation in the field of digital innovation are not isolated, and there is a significant mutual promotion between the two, that is, the growth of family patents leads to the emergence of patent litigation, while the emergence of patent litigation stimulates the layout of more family patents. The quality of patents of the same family is lower than that of basic patents as a whole, and its excessive growth and the effect of triggering the proliferation of litigation deserve attention; therefore, it is necessary to improve the standards for patent examination and authorization of the same family in order to achieve the effect of "killing two birds with one stone" and curb the negative impact of the proliferation of strategic patent behavior on digital innovation.

Key words:Digital Innovation; Patent Behavior; Family Patent; Patent Litigation

Abstract：Digital innovation is typical patent-intensive innovation. Patents have evolved from protection means to competitive tools in recent years. Strategic patent behaviors have been increasingly emerging in the field of digital innovation. Strategic patent behaviors are patent attack and defense behaviors centering on the ownership and use of patent rights. The purpose is to suppress competitors and obtain competitive advantages or commercial interests. This makes it different from traditional patent behaviors such as patent application, patent license, and patent right defending. Under this background, strategic patent behaviors have had a significantly negative impact on digital innovation. It is necessary to have an in-depth research on strategic patent behaviors in digital innovation. Strategic patent behaviors play diversification in digital innovation in recent decades. The most prominent performance is the surge of patent quantity. Therefore, the research starts with the surge of patent quantity to explore the underlying reasons behind it. We select patents in the field of digital information transmission as research samples. The analysis of long time series data shows that the surge of patent families leads to the surge of patent quantity in digital innovation. Patent families are derivatives of basic patents and play a secondary role in the patent system. The overall quality of patent families is lower than basic patents. However, the number of patent families has exceeded the number of basic patents. Patent family is becoming one kind of strategic patent behaviors. At the same time, the number of patent litigations also presents an explosive growth trend in digital innovation. The growth rate of patent litigations has exceeded that of grant patents in this field. Patent litigation is becoming one kind of strategic patent behaviors. It is worth further investigating whether these two kinds of strategic patent behaviors are isolated or related. To clarify the interaction between patent families and patent litigations, we adopt stationarity test and co-integration analysis to analyze the long time series data of patent families and patent litigations. The results show that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between them. We establish the error correction model. The results show that there is a short-term correction effect in the long-term equilibrium of patent families and patent litigations. There may be an interaction between them. The Granger causality test shows that patent family is the Granger cause of patent litigation when the lag period is 5 to 6 years. Patent litigation is the Granger cause of patent family when the lag period is 1 to 4 years. The research shows that patent families and patent litigations in digital innovation are not isolated. There is a significant interaction between them. The growth of patent families lead to the emergence of massive patent litigations and the emergence of patent litigations stimulate more applications of patent families. The rule revealed by the research has practical significance. How to utilize the policy lever is the key for preventing the overflow of strategic patent behaviors at present. Considering the interaction of mutual promotion between patent families and patent litigations, we could improve the authorization standards of patent families as the policy lever to curb strategic patent behaviors. Improving the authorization standards of patent families appropriately could curb the excessive growth of low-quality patent families. The interaction between patent families and patent litigations will prevent the overflow of patent litigations. We would achieve the policy effect of “killing two birds with one stone” and curb the negative impact of the overflow of strategic patent behaviors on digital innovation.

Keyword：digital innovation; patent behavior; patent family; patent litigation

Author: Zhang Mil, Li Haipeng, Ren Tengfei

Author: School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology

The full text has been published in Science of Science Research, Issue 3, 2022.