1. University of Toronto Patent Colloquium, 2014
James Bessen

2. Most gain often comes from sequential improvements

3. Years to first commercialization
Invention
Year first patentable
Years to first commercialization
Years to "shakeout"
Total years
ball point pen
1938 7 28 35
DDT
1874 68 12 80
fluorescent lighting
1859 74 2 76
freon refrigerant
1931 36 38
gyrocompass
1852 56 55
111
jet engine
1791
153 17
170
magnetic recording
1898 41 26 67
nylon and perlon
1930 9 34 43
penicillin
1928 16 23
radar
1904 31 48
radio
1900 15 51 66
space rockets
1925 19 42
streptomycin
1921 46
television
1905 33
transistor
1948 13 20
xerography
1937 25
zipper
1891 32 63 95

4. Free knowledge sharing, 19th century
Steam engine (UK)
Blast furnaces (UK)
Bessemer steel (US)
Textile technology, (UK, US, Japan, France)
Steamboat (US)
Agriculture (US, UK, Denmark)
Clocks, civil engineers, paper, furniture, airplane...

5. Coexistence: common, but temporary
Diffusion curves (Mansfield 1981)

6. Sewing machine patent pool: slows patenting

7. Sewing machine patent pool: decreases innovation

8. Most SEPs AFTER basic standard