Co-owner relationships conducive to high quality joint patents

Multi-country joint ownership of a patent positively impacts patent quality, which is evidenced by their receiving statistically more forward patent citations than patents co-owned within a single country. This paper also considers the possibility that university partnerships and income differences between international co-owners further influence joint patent quality. Multi-country co-ownership in countries with similar per capita incomes enhances the likelihood a joint patent is high quality in the short run, when quality is assessed as forward citations received within three years. However, this short run benefit disappears when differences in national patent regimes are controlled form the analyses. Finally, although co-ownership with a university is not found to have an immediate impact, it does enhance the likelihood that a joint patent is classified as high over the life of the patent. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.