“What are patents actually worth?”
In a recent study, the European Commission summarizes the results of detailed technical studies about the value of patents in Europe. As a conclusion, the study argues that to enhance the rate of utilization of patents the most effective strategy is to encourage the growth of technology markets. Other means, like reducing the patenting costs of small firms, may only induce them to patent less valuable, and hence less usable technologies, thereby aggravating rather than solving the problem.
The study concludes with regard to future policy that to encourage technology markets a first important policy target should be the reduction of transaction costs in technology trade. Tools for achieving this goal are believed to range from the creation of standard contracts for technology trade that reduce contractual ambiguities and the formation of intermediating companies that facilitate the match of buyers and suppliers, to actions that define standard prices for technologies according to their characteristics, as well as public information about technology prices.