ABSTRACT
According to the findings of recent research on entrepreneurial finance, the value of patents goes beyond the sole protection of the intellectual property because patents can serve as quality signals for external financing (Hall and Harhoff 2012; Gambardella 2013). Hsu and Ziedonis (2013) argue that firms with more patents receive relatively more venture funding, whereas Häussler et al. (2014) claim that external investors gauge the value of patents even before granting. Cockburn and Macgarvie (2009) document that patents are used for external financing also in the case of an initial public offering, merger, or acquisition. When combined with other IP strategies external investors have a better understanding about the value of patents (Alvarez Garrido and Dushnitsky 2013; Block et al. 2014), and several procedural aspects of patents are indicative for their proper valuation (Deb 2013). Nevertheless, with the exception of the study of Block et al. (2014), previous literature has seldom debated how marketing and commercialization activity directly linked with a patented invention affect its valuation. In particular, there is scarce evidence on the determinants of patent value when several IP strategies are combined regarding the same innovative project.
