| Abstract: |
Existing research suggests that New Zealand was, on a per capita basis, the
wealthiest and most prolific patenting nation during the late nineteenth
century. By quantifying lapsed applications, patent renewals, and expenditure
on patent fees, rather than just patent applications, we consider the real
level of innovative activity. Our results show that while reductions in patent
fees and required advertising in the early 1880s led to a sharp increase in
applications by people living in New Zealand, overseas patent applications and
total expenditure on New Zealand patents showed relatively steady growth
between 1860 and 1899. Lower fees succeeded in increasing patenting by skilled
New Zealand trades workers (although engineers still dominated), however,
patenting by unskilled workers, such as labourers, remained low. People living
in New Zealand made over sixty per cent of patent applications, but overseas
patentees paid over half of patent fees because relatively fewer of their
applications lapsed or were not renewed. Although women made greater use of
the patent system over time, even in 1899 they accounted for only 2.5 per cent
of patent applications. |