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Ms. Xizhao Wang
PhD Candidate in Managerial Economics and Strategy
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University

Invention disclosure facilitates knowledge spillovers, supporting future progress but potentially limiting appropriability for the inventor. In this paper, I examine invention disclosure behavior by analyzing the readability of patent texts, using both traditional and novel AI-based readability scores. Using two difference-in-differences analyses, I find that following the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act and the establishment of Technology Transfer Offices, university-affiliated inventors reduced the readability of patent detailed descriptions. This decrease in readability does not extend to patent summary texts, suggesting that university inventors strategically limit information on how to make and use the invention. The findings reveal the potential for strategic disclosure behavior not just in the decision of whether to patent or keep inventions as trade secrets, but also in the degree of patent language clarity. Institutional changes lead inventors to selectively adjust the information disclosed in their patents and obfuscate core techniques. Underlying mechanisms and effects on follow-on innovation are further explored.