Corporate Science in the Patent System: An Analysis of the Semiconductor Technology

Corporate scientific publications are often presented as a strategic means for firms to create
prior art with the objective to prevent others from patenting related inventions. This presumes
that corporate publications enter the pool of prior art which is relevant to judge the
novelty of patent applications at the patent office and that corporate science has the power
to block patent applications. This paper analyses for the first time whether the presumed
mechanism behind corporate publications as a means to preempt patents works. With a
focus on the semiconductor technology, our results show that scientific publications by corporations
challenge the novelty of patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO)
significantly more than other pieces of prior art. Detailed information from the EPO patent
examination procedure allows us to show that corporate publications threaten the novelty
of patent applications if combined with other pieces of prior art like patents rather than as
standalone documents. This supports the claim that corporate scientific publishing can be
an effective means for firms to protect their freedom to operate if used as a complementary
part of a firm’s overall IP protection strategy.