Working Paper: NBER ID: w25271
Authors: Jorge L. Contreras; Bronwyn H. Hall; Christian Helmers
Abstract: We revisit the effect of the “Eco-Patent Commons” (EcoPC) on the diffusion of patented environmentally friendly technologies following its discontinuation in 2016, using both participant survey and data analytic evidence. Established in January 2008 by several large multinational companies, the not-for-profit initiative provided royalty-free access to 248 patents covering 94 “green” inventions. Hall and Helmers (2013) suggested that the patents pledged to the commons had the potential to encourage the diffusion of valuable environmentally friendly technologies. Our updated results now show that the commons did not increase the diffusion of pledged inventions, and that the EcoPC suffered from several structural and organizational issues. Our findings have implications for the effectiveness of patent commons in enabling the diffusion of patented technologies more broadly.
Keywords: ecopatent commons; technology diffusion; patented technologies; green technologies
JEL Codes: O13; O34; Q55
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| awareness of ecopatent commons (ecopc) (O36) | reliance on pledged patents as prior art (O34) |
| benefits of the commons (Q21) | maintenance of patents (O34) |
| ecopatent commons (ecopc) (O36) | diffusion of pledged inventions (O36) |
| pledged patents (O34) | citations received compared to matched control patents (O38) |
| pledged patents (O34) | citations received after pledge (D64) |