Application publication or confirmation of grant: Which matters more for academic technology transfer?

We compare the effects of two functions of the patent system – application publication and confirmation of grant – on licensing of academic inventions. Application publication eighteen months after filing significantly increases the license hazard for exclusively licensed patents, and for inventions in the larger of the two major technology groups that we study (chemical, drugs and medical), implying an informational role of publication additional to that of academic publication. For the other major aggregate (computers, communications, electrical, electronic and mechanical), which necessarily includes a high proportion of nonexclusively licensed patents, we find no significant response. Patent grant has a generally insignificant effect on licensing hazard, consistent with efficient contingent pre-grant contracting, which significantly accelerates transfer in important technology fields.