Paulina Sperling, ’21

How do corporations manage, motivate and use their innovation to survive in a competitive environment?

I find that large corporations use meritless patent litigation as a way to reduce competition and push innovative startups off the market. However, does this mean that all patent litigation is meritless? No. I further find that when large corporations experience declining innovation, they are more likely to pursue merit-based patent litigation. This implies at times when large corporation are unable to be innovative, they use previously obtained intellectual property as a way to maintain market power.

My research helps to understand determinants of patent litigation and how patent litigation can be used as a competitive tool.