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Patents As Escalators, Amelia Smith Rinehart

Amelia Smith Rinehart

High technology companies commit time, effort and resources to innovation. Over the course of a research and development project, an innovative company may face several sequential decisions regarding whether to continue to invest in the project and whether to commercialize the discoveries that have been made. Companies often seek patents early in the research and development process to receive the right to exclude others from practicing the invention. Given a current trend toward earlier and earlier patent filing, it has been suggested that this strategy could leave many inventions underdeveloped as companies treat patents like real options, deciding later, as …