Publications de Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

A new approach to measuring invention commercialization: An application to the SBIR program

Measuring the commercialization of patented inventions remains a key challenge in innovation studies. This paper introduces a novel, web-based method for tracking the commercialization of patented inventions. The method leverages targeted web searches to i ...

2025

AI-Generated Inventions: Implications for the Patent System

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

This symposium Article discusses issues raised for patent processes and policy created by inventions generated by artificial intelligence (“AI”). The Article begins by examining the normative desirability of allowing patents on AI-generated inventions. Whi ...

2024

Do patents enable disclosure? Evidence from the invention secrecy act

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

The analysis exploits the Invention Secrecy Act, which grants the U.S. Commissioner for Patents the right to prevent the disclosure of new inventions that represent a threat to national security. Using a two-level matching approach, we document a negative ...

2024

International mobility of inventors and innovation: Empirical evidence from the collapse of the Soviet Union

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Gabriele Pellegrino

This paper assesses the extent to which the international migration of inventors affects innovation in the receiving country. Drawing on a novel database that maps the migratory patterns of inventors, we exploit the end of the Soviet Union and the conseque ...

Elsevier Science Sa2024

Replicable Patent Indicators Using the Google Patents Public Datasets

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, George Abi Younes

The Australian Economic Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, Faculty of Business and Economics.Recognising the increasing accessibility and i ...

2024

The effects of war on Ukrainian research

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Wolf-Hendrik Peter Uhlbach, Tetiana Murovana

The ongoing war in Ukraine has profoundly impacted the Ukrainian scientific community. Numerous researchers have either emigrated or transitioned to alternate professions. For those who remain in research, the destruction of civil infrastructure and psycho ...

Springernature2023

Do patent pledges accelerate innovation?

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

This paper estimates the effect of patent pledges, commitments made voluntarily by patent holders to limit the enforcement of their patents, on follow-on inventions. Patent pledges have been gaining popularity in recent years thanks to the highly visible p ...

ELSEVIER2023

Is The Patent System An Even Playing Field? The Effect Of Patent Attorney Firms

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

The patent system underpins the business model of some of the fastest-growing companies. Used appropriately, it should support frontier technologies and nurture new firms. Used perniciously, it can stifle innovation and protect established technological be ...

WILEY2023

AI-GENERATED INVENTIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PATENT SYSTEM

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

This symposium Article discusses issues raised for patent processes and policy created by inventions generated by artificial intelligence ("AI"). The Article begins by examining the normative desirability of allowing patents on AI-generated inventions. Whi ...

2023

Productivity gains from migration: Evidence from inventors

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Orion B Penner

This paper studies the relationship between migration and the productivity of high-skilled workers, as captured by inventors of international patent applications. Using machine learning techniques to uniquely identify inventors across patents, we are able ...

ELSEVIER2023

International patent protection and trade: Transaction-level evidence?

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

We report a hitherto undocumented causal mechanism of how patent protection affects exports. The empirical analysis leverages unique data on the worldwide patenting and exporting activities at the product level for the universe of French firms. Exploiting ...

ELSEVIER2022

Scientific rewards for biomedical specialization are large and persistent

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Orion B Penner, Kyle William Higham

Background While specialization plays an essential role in how scientific research is pursued, we understand little about its effects on a researcher's impact and career. In particular, the extent to which one specializes within their chosen fields likely ...

BMC2022

Technology Protectionism and the Patent System: Evidence from China

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Emilio Raiteri

Governments have strong incentives to allow their inventors to free ride on foreign technologies. They can achieve this result by discriminating against foreigners in the patent system-by refusing to grant foreigners a patent for their inventions. Internat ...

WILEY2022

Low-Quality Patents in the Eye of the Beholder: Evidence from Multiple Examiners

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

A low-quality patent system threatens to slow the pace of technological progress. Concerns about low patent quality are supported by estimates from litigation studies suggesting that most US patents granted should not have been issued. We propose a new mod ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC2021

Buyers' role in innovation procurement: Evidence from US military R&D contracts

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Emilio Raiteri

This study provides the first quantification of buyers' role in the outcome of R&D procurement contracts. We combine together four data sources on US federal R&D contracts, follow-on patented inventions, federal public workforce characteristics, and percep ...

WILEY2021

Decentralising the patent system

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Kyle William Higham

Modern patent systems are slow, inefficient, expensive, and may result in outcomes that actively harm technological progress. This paper proposes a substantive re-think of these systems and lays a foundation upon which practical solutions can be built. Man ...

ELSEVIER INC2021

Imputation of missing information in worldwide patent data

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse

We present a general method for imputing missing information in the Worldwide Patent Statistical Database (PATSTAT) and make the resulting datasets publicly available. The PATSTAT database is the de facto standard for academic research using patent data. C ...

2021

Patent Quality: Towards a Systematic Framework for Analysis and Measurement

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Kyle William Higham

The quality of novel technological innovations is extremely variable, and the ability to measure innovation quality is essential to sensible, evidence-based policy. Patents, an often vital precursor to a commercialised innovation, share this heterogeneous ...

ELSEVIER2021

COVID-19 : Insights from innovation economists

Dominique Foray, Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Charles Chadi Ayoubi, Gabriele Pellegrino, George Abi Younes, Omar Ballester Gonzalez, Gabriele Cristelli, Ling Zhou, Matthias David van den Heuvel

The present document provides the take of innovation economists on the COVID-19 pandemic. It targets the general public and focuses on questions related to the Science, Technology, and Innovation ecosystem. It provides a reading of current real-world devel ...

2020

Wanted: A standard for virtual patent marking

Gaétan Jean A de Rassenfosse, Kyle William Higham

Patent marking is used by patentees to provide a form of notice to the public about the existence of a patent and can increase damages awarded in cases of infringement. Historically, marking is done by listing the associated patents on the product they cov ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2020