Changes

The US patent system allows for inventors, patent attorneys, and USPTO patent examiners to reference other patents that are considered prior art or related inventions. These references are theoretically in place to limit or help define the scope of a patent's claims. Often times, the patent improves upon these referenced patents or may be a new application of previously patented subject matter. Citations may also be unrelated to the patent's subject matter, and therefore, cannot be fully relied upon in studies of innovation and transfer of ideas between inventors. <ref name="IEEE" /> For the [[Little Guy Academic Paper]] the citation data may be used as a measure of litigation risk for a patent, as suggested previously by a paper by [[Lanjouw Schankerman (2004) - Protecting Intellectual Property Rights| Lanjouw Schankerman]] studying patent litigation of small firms. A patent may be more likely to be litigated if it cites many patents or a patent may be at higher risk if it does not cite related subject matter as other inventors may consider this infringement. Our hope is to further investigate the importance and effects of patent citations and define their role in patent litigation and dissemination of knowledge between inventors and IP centered firms. Additionally, the McNair center plans on defining whether or not citations characterize patent quality, whether a patent is useful and novel.