Citation Frequency and the Value of Patented Inventions
Refereed Journal // 1999Through a survey, private economic value estiamtes were obtained on 964 inventions made in the United States and Germany and on which German patent renewal fees were paid to full-term expiration in 1995. A search of subsequent U.S. and German patents yielded counts of citations to those patents. Patents renewed to full-term were significantly more highly cited than patents allowed to expire before their full-term. The higher an invention's economic value estimatewas, the more the patent was subsequently cited.