Japan's Shift From Process to Product Patents in the Pharmaceutical Industry: An Event Study of the Impact on Japanese Firms

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Abstract
In 1975, Japan expanded the scope of its patent law by introducing product patents for newly developed chemical and pharmaceutical products. The authors use rate-of-return data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange for Japanese pharmaceutical companies to examine the impact of the change in the patent law. Their empirical findings indicate that the passage of the new patent law induced an excess return of approximately 26 percent to a portfolio of large pharmaceutical companies. Companies with R&D programs specializing in new product development experienced large gains, while companies with R&D programs specializing in imitative process patents experienced no gains. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

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