Intellectual Property, Information Science, and Quantitative Legal Analysis

Advancements in data analysis and the growing wealth of data regarding various innovations and their uses make it increasingly feasible to apply robust mathematical, statistical, and computational techniques to empirically investigate phenomena, analyse issues and make policies in intellectual property (IP). This chapter gives a brief outline of the six steps to quantitative legal analysis, namely formulating the research question, conducting a literature review, designing the research methodology, managing the data, analysing the data, and presenting the analysis and conclusions. There is discussion about how information science techniques can improve the processes of methodology design and the collection and management of data when applied to IP matters. This chapter ends with an examination into the possible limitations of the quantitative legal analysis process as applied to legal issues in general and to IP issues in particular, and provides suggestions as to how these may be overcome.