تاثیر اعطای حق ثبت اختراع به جایگاه جغرافیایی تجارت ثبت اختراع  The effect of patent grant on the geographic reach of patent trade

1. Introduction Innovative activity is at the heart of economic growth and the knowledge-based economy. A key driver of innovative activity is the exchange of ideas (Audretsch & Feldman, 1996). Scholars have shown that knowledge flows increase the speed of innovative activity and subsequently the rate of economic growth (Coe & Helpman, 1995; Grossman & Helpman, 1991). As a result, a great deal of attention has been paid to channels that can embody knowledge flows; namely, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), trade of physical goods, inventor mobility and patent citations.1 Recently, the market for patents has received considerable attention as a mechanism through which ideas are exchanged and, therefore, a conduit of knowledge flows. As Ouellette (2012) shows, researchers receive information from studying patent documents in addition to scientific papers, while Bessen (2005) argues that the patent system should operate as a means for the diffusion of technical information disclosed in inventions. Johnson and Liu (2011) show, for the case of Chinese, that technology markets enhance knowledge spillovers and innovation. Geographic distance has been recognized as one of the most important obstacles for all the aforementioned channels of knowledge diffusion, including patent transactions.2 Burhop and Wolf (2013) found that geographic distance mitigates patent transactions and Drivas and Economidou (2014) came to similar conclusions as regards to patent citations and patent trade. Given the significant role of patents in technology transfer and the importance of geographic distance as a mitigating factor, a key question that emerges is to what extent patents themselves weaken the localization of technology transfer.