Prior research suggests that firms’ ability to benefit from their technologies is determined by the strength of intellectual property (IP) laws and the inimitability of their technologies. We complement this explanation by suggesting that the generation of profits from technology is also driven by how effectively firms engage in patent infringement litigation (i.e., take legal action against their rivals) to create isolating mechanisms and protect their technologies. We contend that patent infringement litigation is characterized by industry and geographic specificity that affect (disproportionately) revenue generation and costs and, therefore, its net effect on firm profitability. By identifying contingencies that influence the economic returns from patent litigation, the analysis helps us understand why firms experience different profitability outcomes even when they operate in similar IP regimes and possess similar portfolios of technologies.

先前的研究表明，企业从其技术中受益的能力取决于知识产权法（IP）的实力和技术的不可替代性。我们通过建议企业利用专利侵权诉讼（即对竞争对手采取法律行动）有效地创造隔离机制和保护其技术的方式，来驱动技术利润的产生，以此补充这一解释。我们认为，专利侵权诉讼的特征是行业（和比例不成比例地）影响的行业和地域性创收和成本，以及因此对公司获利能力的净影响。通过确定会影响专利诉讼的经济收益的突发事件，该分析有助于我们理解，即使公司在类似的知识产权制度下运作并拥有类似的技术组合，为何公司仍会经历不同的获利能力结果。