Table of Contents

1: Introduction
Part 1 : The economics of patents
2: Historical insights
3: Patents as an incentive to innovate
4: Patents as a market instrument
5: Patent design
Part 2: The European patent system
6: Patent procedures and filing strategies at the EPO
7: Hot 'Patent' issues: Quantitative Evidence
8: The European Patent System at the Crossroad

About the Author

Dominique Guellec is Principal Economist at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in Paris. He conducts policy oriented analysis on the economic aspects of intellectual property rights (IPR), notably patents, and develops statistics in the field. Until December 2005, he was Chief Economist of the European Patent Office in Munich, with the task of informing EPO policy for economic related matters and to conduct studies and projects on
economic aspects of patenting in Europe. Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie is Chief Economist of the European Patent Office (EPO). He has been professor at the Brussels' University (ULB) since
September 1999 and as holder of the Solvay S.A. Chair of Innovation he teaches courses related to the economics and management of innovation and intellectual property. Until November 2005, he was Vice-president of the Solvay Business School, Director of its MBA Programs and of its International Exchange Program. In the past he has worked at the OECD, as a visiting researcher at the Columbia Business School (NYC) and at the Research Institute of the METI (Tokyo), and has been visiting Professor
at the Institute of Innovation Research of Hitotsubashi University (Tokyo) and at the University of Stellenbosh Business School (Cape Town).