Software patents have been shown to have a positive effect on the patenting firm’s market value. Although there is anecdotal evidence that software patents of a focal firm can adversely affect its rival firms, there is a paucity of empirical research on such competitive impacts of software patents. In order to advance our understanding of the competitive impact of software patents, we investigate the impact of a firm’s software patents on rivals’ market value using data from the US IT industries. Importantly, we consider heterogeneity across firms, in terms of their ability to successfully commercialize their patented invention, which has not been studied. Drawing upon resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability perspective, we examine how rival firm’s R&D capabilities might moderate such a competitive relationship. Furthermore, we theorize that firms must have supportive marketing and operations capabilities if they are to commercialize software patents and generate significant value. Specifically, our analysis of a large unique panel dataset of 563 IT firms in the United States during the period 2003–2012 indicates evidence of negative impacts of a focal firm’s software patent stock on its rivals’ market value. However, if rivals have sufficient R&D capabilities, they can mitigate the negative impacts of the focal firm’s software patents. Moreover, we find that marketing and operations capabilities indeed ensure that software patent stock has strong positive impacts on the forcal firm’s market value. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

中文翻译：

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战略性利用软件专利对抗 IT 行业竞争对手的渗透


软件专利已被证明对专利公司的市场价值有积极的影响。尽管有传闻证据表明，焦点公司的软件专利可能对其竞争对手公司产生不利影响，但对软件专利的这种竞争影响的实证研究却很少。为了加深我们对软件专利竞争影响的理解，我们利用美国 IT 行业的数据调查了一家公司的软件专利对竞争对手市场价值的影响。重要的是，我们考虑了企业之间的异质性，即它们成功地将其专利发明商业化的能力，这一点尚未被研究。借鉴基于资源的观点（RBV）和动态能力的观点，我们研究了竞争对手公司的研发能力如何调节这种竞争关系。此外，我们认为，如果企业要将软件专利商业化并产生巨大的价值，就必须具备支持性的营销和运营能力。具体来说，我们对 2003 年至 2012 年期间美国 563 家 IT 公司的大型独特面板数据集进行的分析表明，有证据表明焦点公司的软件专利库存对其竞争对手的市场价值产生了负面影响。然而，如果竞争对手拥有足够的研发能力，他们可以减轻焦点公司软件专利的负面影响。此外，我们发现营销和运营能力确实确保了软件专利存量对官方公司的市场价值具有强烈的积极影响。讨论了对研究和实践的影响。