Continuing Patent Applications at the USPTO

• Authors: Cesare Righi and Theodor Vladasel.
• BSE Working Paper: 110853 | January 23
• Keywords: innovation , intellectual property , patent scope , continuation , divisional
• JEL codes: O31, O34, O38
• innovation
• intellectual property
• patent scope
• continuation
• divisional

Despite their growing importance for rm innovation strategy and frequent appearance in U.S. patent policy debates, how continuing patent applications are used remains unclear. Turn-of-the-century reforms strongly limited opportunities to extend patent term and surprise competitors, but continuing applications have steadily risen since. We argue that they retain a subtle use, as applicants can file continuations to keep prosecution open and change patent scope after locking in gains with the initial patent. We document a sharp drop in parent abandonment and rise in continuations per original patent after the reforms. Continuing applications are more privately valuable than original patents, are led in more uncertain contexts, for higher value technologies, by more strategic applicants, and react strongly to the notice of allowance. The evidence supports a current strategic use of continuing applications to craft claims over time.