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This symposium Article discusses issues raised for patent processes and policy created by inventions generated by artificial intelligence ("AI"). The Article begins by examining the normative desirability of allowing patents on AI-generated inventions. While it is unclear whether patent protection is needed to incentivize the creation of AI-generated inventions, a stronger case can be made that AI-generated inventions should be patent eligible to encourage the commercialization and technology transfer of AI-generated inventions. Next, the Article examines how the emergence of AI inventions will alter patentability standards, and whether a differentiated patent system that treats AI-generated inventions differently from human-generated inventions is normatively desirable. This Article concludes by considering the larger implications of allowing patents on AI-generated inventions, including changes to the patent examination process, a possible increase in the concentration of patent ownership and patent thickets, and potentially unlimited inventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2004.08.011 Byline: Benjamin Gomes-Casseres (a), John Hagedoorn (b), Adam B. Jaffe (a) Keywords: Alliances; Technology transfer; Patents; Knowledge; Multinational companies Abstract: We explore the role of interfirm alliances as a mechanism for sharing technological knowledge. We argue that knowledge flows between alliance partners will be greater than flows between pairs of nonallied firms, and less than flows between units within single firms. Using patent citations as a proxy for knowledge flows, we find results that are consistent with these expectations. We then explore how firm characteristics affect knowledge flows within alliances and find positive effects due to technological, geographic, and business similarities between partners. We use alliance data from MERIT, patent data from the USPTO, and firm data from Compustat. Author Affiliation: (a) Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA (b) University of Maastricht, The Netherlands Article History: Received 2 October 2003; Revised 19 July 2004; Accepted 30 August 2004 Article Note: (footnote) [star] We thank Megan MacGarvie and Mehmet Beceren for research assistance, and attendees at the NBER 2002 Alliance Conference, the Academy of International Business 2002 and 2003 Annual Meetings, and two anonymous referees for their suggestions.

Research have been performed to determine the employment of patents and patent citations as indicators of the economic aspects of technological developments. These include research on the application of patent citations to determine basic inventions and the utilization of citations to determine how technological knowledge affects nearby areas. The transfer of technological knowledge across countries has also been investigated., Economists accept that technological change contributes powerfully to long-run improvements in living standards. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the determinants of technological change, including the relative contributions of different [...]