Publications

SSRN

July 2024
Article

Buying the Verdict

By: Lauren Cohen and Umit Gurun

We document evidence that firms systematically increase specialized, locally targeted advertising following the firm being taken to trial in that given location, precisely following initiation of the suit. In particular, we use legal actions brought against publicly... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Advertising; Marketing Strategy

February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Pushing Past the Boundaries of ESG Investing: AQR Capital Management

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Richard B. Evans, Umit G. Gurun and Quoc H. Nguyen

Cliff Asness was facing a dilemma into how he would plunge his hedge fund into the hottest investment area worldwide—ESG Investing. Founder and managing principal of AQR—one the most storied quantitative hedge funds in the world—Asness knew anything less than a big... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Hedge Fund; Investment; Equity; Green Technology

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Article

The Growing Problem of Patent Trolling

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

The last decade has seen a sharp rise in patent litigation in the U.S., with 2015 having one of the highest patent lawsuit counts on record. In theory, this could be a consequence of growth in the commercialization of technology and innovation—patent lawsuits increase... View Details

Keywords: Patent Aggregators; Patent Litigation; Patent Pools; Patent Trolls; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; United States

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February 2017
Article

Resident Networks and Corporate Connections: Evidence from World War II Internment Camps

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Christopher J. Malloy

We demonstrate that simply by using the ethnic makeup surrounding a firm’s location, we can predict, on average, which trade links are valuable for firms. Using customs and port authority data on the international shipments of all U.S. publicly traded firms, we show... View Details

Keywords: Information Networks; Trade Links; Firm Behavior; Networks; Geographic Location; Ethnicity; Organizations; Trade

2023
Working Paper

Too Many Managers: The Strategic Use of Titles to Avoid Overtime Payments

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and N. Bugra Ozel

We find widespread evidence of firms appearing to avoid paying overtime wages by exploiting a federal law that allows them to do so for employees termed as “managers” and paid a salary above a pre-defined dollar threshold. We show that listings for salaried positions... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Organizational Design; Job Design and Levels; Compensation and Benefits

October 2020
Article

IQ from IP: Simplifying Search in Portfolio Choice

By: Huaizhi Chen, Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun, Dong Lou and Christopher J. Malloy

Using a novel database that tracks web traffic on the SEC’s EDGAR servers between 2004 and 2015, we show that mutual fund managers gather information on a very particular subset of firms and insiders, and their surveillance is very persistent over time. This tracking... View Details

Keywords: Tracked Trades; Return Predictability; Institutional Trading; Insider Trading; Institutional Investing; Information; Investment Portfolio; Decisions; Management

SSRN

Article

"Troll" Check? A Proposal for Administrative Review of Patent Litigation

By: Lauren Cohen, John Golden, Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

The patent system is commonly justified as a way to promote social welfare and, more specifically, technological progress. For years, however, there has been concern that patent litigation is undermining, rather than furthering, these goals. Particularly in the United... View Details

Keywords: Patent Trolls; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation

25 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 25

The result would be improved deal process design in MBOs and improved capital formation in the economy overall. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50980 Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms By: Cohen,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Internal Deadlines, Drug Approvals, and Safety Problems

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Danielle Li

Absent explicit quotas, incentives, reporting, or fiscal year-end motives, drug approvals around the world surge in December, at month-ends, and before respective major national holidays. Drugs approved before these informal deadlines are associated with significantly... View Details

Keywords: Health; Economics; Government and Politics; Innovation and Invention; Research; Science; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

SSRN

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

of the pace of technological substitution by providing insights on complementarities between technologies and horizontally differentiated human capital. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53855 Buying... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Blog Post

How U.S. Laws Protecting America's Best Ideas Are Killing Innovation

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit G. Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

Article

Congress Must Look Forward in Reining in Patent Trolls

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit G. Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

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Article

Patent Trolling Isn't Dead—It's Just Moving to Delaware

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit G. Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

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2024
Working Paper

Patent Hunters

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun, Katie Moon and Paula Suh

Analyzing millions of patents granted by the USPTO between 1976 and 2020, we find a pattern where specific patents only rise to prominence after considerable time has passed. Amongst these late-blooming influential patents, we show that there are key players (patent... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Product Launch; Product; Innovation and Invention

2017
Chapter

Empirical Evidence on the Behavior and Impact of Patent Trolls: A Survey

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

We survey the empirical literature on non-practicing entity (NPE) litigation behavior and its consequences. We document both aggregate trends and cross-sectional differences amongst various types of NPEs. Survey evidence illustrates a number of ways in which NPEs can... View Details

Keywords: Patent Trolls; NPEs; PAEs; Innovation; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Innovation and Invention