This study examines the consequences of inventor turnover for the termination of the patents they produced beforehand. The proponents of the knowledge-based view consider firms repositories of knowledge and inventors carriers of knowledge who create new inventions through recombination. I argue that because the knowledge about inventions resides with inventors, turnover among them may adversely affect the future use of their inventions due to the loss of tacit knowledge. As a result, firms are more likely to terminate the patents of inventors who have left than of inventors who remain. Further, the patterns of collaboration between departed inventors and others influence the aforementioned relationship. Analyses of the termination of patents, in the form of nonpayment of renewal fees, by pharmaceutical firms support the claims in the article. The findings have implications for how firms manage their knowledge portfolios in the face of inevitable inventor turnover and the resulting loss of tacit knowledge.

这项研究检查了发明人更替对他们事先生产的专利终止的后果。基于知识的观点的拥护者认为，企业的知识库和知识的发明者通过重组来创造新发明。我认为，因为关于发明的知识属于发明人所有，所以由于缺乏默契性知识，他们之间的更替可能会对他们的发明的未来使用产生不利影响。结果，与留下的发明者相比，企业更有可能终止已经离开的发明者的专利。此外，离任的发明人和其他人之间的合作模式会影响上述关系。制药公司以不缴纳续展费的形式对专利终止进行分析，以支持该条款中的权利要求。