Study Reveals Value of a Patent
17 December 2012
The surprising results of a study at the University of Melbourne shows patented inventions may be worth more than they are generally given credit for.
The Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (IPRIA) at the University of Melbourne surveyed 31,000 Australian inventors who filed patents in Australia between 1986 and 2005, lawyers at Griffith Hack have reported. IPRIA received 3,700 responses in total, or about 12% of these inventors. Inventors were asked to estimate the value of their inventions and how a granted patent affected this.
Inventors estimated the median value of these inventions was around A$800,000 (US$738,000).
Inventors also estimated a granted patent increased the invention’s value by around 50%, or several hundred thousand dollars for most inventions.
A recent European survey gave similar values for a survey of European inventors. Patent owners gave comparable values in the European survey.
“This research suggests that developing innovations and inventions and protecting these with patent applications is producing returns for Australian inventors,” lawyers at Griffith Hack said in their Breakthrough newsletter.