The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India

We contribute to the literature on the role of patenting for economic development by analyzing the impact of patent protection for software in India. We find that a proposed broadening of patent eligibility to include software in 2004 had a large positive effect on average returns for listed softwar...

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Main Authors: Eberhardt, Markus, Fafchamps, Marcel, Helmers, Christian, Patnam, Manasa
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33754/
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author Eberhardt, Markus
Fafchamps, Marcel
Helmers, Christian
Patnam, Manasa
author_facet Eberhardt, Markus
Fafchamps, Marcel
Helmers, Christian
Patnam, Manasa
author_sort Eberhardt, Markus
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We contribute to the literature on the role of patenting for economic development by analyzing the impact of patent protection for software in India. We find that a proposed broadening of patent eligibility to include software in 2004 had a large positive effect on average returns for listed software companies in India. An unanticipated reversal of this proposed policy change in 2005 resulted in substantial negative returns. We illustrate substantial heterogeneity in the dynamics of these effects across the sequence of events. We also find smaller firms to have been systematically and most significantly affected by the tightening of patent law with regard to software patents.
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spelling nottingham-337542020-05-04T18:07:51Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33754/ The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India Eberhardt, Markus Fafchamps, Marcel Helmers, Christian Patnam, Manasa We contribute to the literature on the role of patenting for economic development by analyzing the impact of patent protection for software in India. We find that a proposed broadening of patent eligibility to include software in 2004 had a large positive effect on average returns for listed software companies in India. An unanticipated reversal of this proposed policy change in 2005 resulted in substantial negative returns. We illustrate substantial heterogeneity in the dynamics of these effects across the sequence of events. We also find smaller firms to have been systematically and most significantly affected by the tightening of patent law with regard to software patents. Elsevier 2016-08-03 Article PeerReviewed Eberhardt, Markus, Fafchamps, Marcel, Helmers, Christian and Patnam, Manasa (2016) The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India. Economics Letters, 145 . pp. 73-78. ISSN 0165-1765 Patents software innovation India http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176516301720 doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2016.05.016 doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2016.05.016
spellingShingle Patents
software
innovation
India
Eberhardt, Markus
Fafchamps, Marcel
Helmers, Christian
Patnam, Manasa
The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India
title The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India
title_full The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India
title_fullStr The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India
title_full_unstemmed The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India
title_short The heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from India
title_sort heterogeneous effect of software patents on expected returns: evidence from india
topic Patents
software
innovation
India
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33754/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33754/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33754/