Novelty Traps

Novelty traps are a unique display of social loss due to patent policy. Novelty traps appear whenever a foreign patented technology (but even unpatented) amounting to prior art chills inventive activity locally. It occurs when the chilled local inventive activity could have otherwise diffused the foreign technology locally through adapting or adopting it by means of incremental innovation. Novelty traps are especially rampant in developing countries. In these countries, such diffusion rates are ever low, and foreign patentees regularly opt for not patenting and commercializing their inventions therein, adding to these countries’ underdevelopment.

Using the unique case of New Zealand’s 2014 patent prior art reform, this article offers the first account of New Zealand’s statutory patent reform's chilling effect twofold. Namely, firstly, novelty traps reduce local patenting activity. Secondly, novelty traps diminish the diffusion of overseas technology.

The policy ramifications of these early findings are potentially radical as they question the efficiency of the standard of ‘absolute’ novelty or nonobviousness in incentivizing inventive activity. That is, especially in underdeveloped countries where technology diffusion through incremental midlevel invention is critical. Therefore, it is probable that New Zealand’s novelty traps intensify in developing countries where technology diffusion is costlier due to lower absorptive capacity.

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Each year the OIPRC hosts a number of leading academics from around the world as part of its Invited Speaker Series. These events typically run from 5:15-6:45pm on Thursday evenings in The Dorfman Centre at St. Peter’s College; if the venue or time is different, it will be noted on the Events calendar.  

The Speaker Series consists of a presentation of about 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A session with the assembled group of academic staff, students (both undergraduate and graduate), researchers, and interested members of the public.  Discussion is informal and includes participants from several disciplines, with a wide range of prior knowledge.

Convenors: Robert Burrell, Dev Gangjee and Robert Pitkethly

Refreshments and snacks are served at the conclusion of the discussion.  All are welcome.

​Invited Speaker 2021 - 2022 schedule and Archive listing.

If you are interested in receiving information about our forthcoming events and activities at the centre, please subscribe to our maillist by sending a blank email and subject line to oiprc-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk.  You will be sent a confirmation request and, once you reply to it, a message confirming that you are a subscriber.  Subscribers can unsubscribe at any time by sending a blank email to oiprc-unsubscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk.  

Centre Contact: info@oiprc.ox.ac.uk