Research on evaluation technique of patented invention using both technical value and economic value

The number of patent applications is around 400,000 a year in Japan, and its ratio by the Japanese applicant achieves about 84% out of the total number of patent applications. This ratio is extremely high compared with the ratio filed by each nationality in Europe and in the US. The number of applications or/and the number of registrations, etc. have been often used to evaluate the company´s strength using patents, comparing with the competitors strength using patents. However said number does not describe the value of patents. In this study, we propose an evaluation technique of patented inventions using from both technical value such as the number of patent citation, ratio of patented inventions to patent applications, and economical value such as the sales of the commercial products etc., which can be called micro approach. This method makes it possible to give substantial evaluation of patented inventions, and gives an evaluation tool for Intellectual Property management which supports the decision making whether the invention shall be filed or not, reducing the useless patents, which will lead to maintain the company´s competitiveness using limited resources effectively. In addition, the proposed method evaluating patents value will contribute to strengthen Technology Management.