Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society (기술혁신학회지)

Korea Technology Innovation Society (한국기술혁신학회)
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The Effect of Alliance Activity on Patent Litigation : In the Case of Printed Electronics

기업의 제휴활동이 특허 소송 관계에 미치는 영향 : 인쇄전자 산업 중심으로

  • 강민정 (한국과학기술원(KAIST) 기술경영학부) ;
  • 유재원 (한국과학기술원(KAIST) 기술경영학부) ;
  • 김원준 (한국과학기술원(KAIST) 기술경영학부) ;
  • 김남일 (한국과학기술원(KAIST) 기술경영학부)
  • Received : 2018.03.06
  • Accepted : 2018.03.21
  • Published : 2018.03.31
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Abstract

Patent litigation has been considered as a tool to protect and facilitate innovation. Ironically, yet, the misguided uses of patent litigation as a strategic tool for vigilance against competitors are acting as a hindrance for innovation. Previous studies show that the better the quality of a patent, the higher the chance of the patent being litigated. Therefore, it is particularly important for the innovating firms to take strategic precautions to minimize the risk of patent litigation. This study investigates the moderating role of firms' past alliance experiences on the relationship between patent quality and patent litigation from the perspective of a defendant. A unique dataset on patents, infringement lawsuits, and firm performances in the printed electronics industry confirms that firms' previous alliance experiences mitigate the impact of patent quality on infringement litigation. For instance, the results confirm that the presence of past alliance experience reduces the litigation rate by 33% for firms with median-quality patents. This paper makes two major contributions. First, it contributes to the literature on alliance experience by confirming its role as a reputation in mitigating future litigations. Second, this paper contributes to the literature on patent litigation by identifying a unique moderator, i.e., alliance experience, on the linkage between patent quality and litigation. An innovating firm is likely to become an alleged infringer under a false accusation. Therefore, this paper focuses on firms that partake in infringement lawsuits unwillingly. Despite the importance, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate patent litigations from the perspective of defendants.

특허 소송은 혁신 혹은 지적 재산권의 보호 수단으로서 알려져 있다. 그러나 특허 시장이 증대됨에 따라 경쟁사의 진입을 방해하기 위한 전략적 수단으로 특허 소송의 활용 범위가 증대되었다. 특허 소송에 연루될 가능성은 기업이 가지고 있는 특허의 양질이 증대할수록 높아진다고 밝혀져 왔다. 그러므로 혁신을 추구하는 기업의 입장에서는 특허 소송에 연루될 가능성을 최대한 낮출 수 있는 방안이 필요하다. 이에 본 연구는 인쇄 전자 산업 내 기업의 과거 제휴 활동이 특허품질과 특허 소송의 관계에 미칠 수 있는 영향력에 대해 분석하였다. 특허 품질과 특허 소송의 관계에 대한 기존 연구결과를 재 입증함과 더불어 피고인 관점의 특허 소송에 대한 연구를 진행하여 기업의 제휴 활동이 특허 소송을 낮춘다는 결과를 도출하였다. 예컨대, 평균치의 특허를 지닌 기업에 대해 과거 제휴 활동의 유무가 연간 특허 소송률을 약 33% 낮추는 것을 실증적으로 입증하였다. 본 연구가 특허 소송과 전략적 제휴에 관한 기존 문헌에 기여하는 바는 다음과 같다. 기업의 과거 전략적 제휴가 평판으로서의 역할을 하여 특허 소송을 감소시킴을 확인함으로써 기존 전략적 제휴 관련 문헌에 기여한다. 또한, 특허 품질이 특허 소송에 미치는 영향력에 대한 새로운 조절 변수를 밝혀냄으로써 기존 특허 소송 관련 문헌에 기여한다. 더불어, 본 연구는 특허 소송을 피고인 관점에서 분석한 최초의 연구라는 점에서 매우 의미가 있다.

Keywords

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