How redeployable are patent assets? Evidence from failed startups

Entrepreneurial firms are important sources of patented inventions. Yet little is known about what happens to patents "released" to the market when startups fail. This study provides a first look at the frequency and speed with which patents originating from failed startups are redeployed to new owners, and whether the value of patents is tied to the original venture and team. The evidence is based on 1,766 U.S. patents issued to 285 venture capital-backed startups that disband between 1988 and 2008 in three innovation-intensive sectors: medical devices, semiconductors, and software. At odds with the view that the resale market for patented inventions is illiquid, we find that most patents from these startups are sold, are sold quickly, and remain "alive" through renewal fee payment long after the startups are shuttered. The patents tend to be purchased by other operating companies in the same sector, and retain value beyond the original venture and team. We do find, however, that the patents and people sometimes move jointly to a new organization following the dissolution of the original venture, and explore the conditions under which such co-movement is more likely. The study provides new evidence on a phenomenon-of active markets for buying and selling patents-underexplored in the strategy literature and consequential for both entrepreneurial and established firms.Accepted manuscrip

Don't fence me in : fragmented markets for technology and the patent acquisition strategies of firms

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/36305/2/b2110799.0001.001.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/36305/1/b2110799.0001.001.tx

National Technology Policy in Global Markets: Developing Next-Generation Lithography in the Semiconductor Industry

Since the late 1980s, the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) has been a prominent vehicle used to support collaboration between US federal laboratories and private firms. This paper examines the structure and goals of one of the most ambitious CRADAs conducted to date, the EUV CRADA, which involves three Department of Energy laboratories and leading US firms in the semiconductor industry and is aimed at the development of next-generation lithographic technologies. This large project is an important case study in 'post-Cold-War' technology policy and government-industry collaboration. Although the EUV project represents significant improvements in the design and management of CRADAs, it also illustrates the inherent difficulties of balancing political and economic goals in complex technology development programs.