Patented inventions are increasingly present throughout the economy and their influence on innovation and economic performance is pervasive. Over the past two decades, the number of patent applications filed each year in major patent offices has grown at a rapid pace, especially in new areas such as information and communications technologies (ICT) and biotechnology. Increased inventiveness and growing investment in research explain part of the growth in patenting, but changes in patent regimes that have expanded the realm of patent protection and strengthened rights of patent holders, together with a more strategic behaviour of patentees, have also played a role. Ensuring that the patent system continues to serve its dual role of providing incentives to invention and facilitating diffusion of ...