Mapping the broad societal impact of patents

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a new wave of fierce debate on the societal costs and benefits of patents. While some call for rigorous system reform, others object that such would interfere with necessary innovation incentives. Commentators appear to judge costs and benefits from different disciplines and perspectives. To facilitate constructive debate, there is a need for boundary-spanning approaches that shed light on the broad societal impact of patents. We performed a comprehensive synthesis of contemporary reports on the effects of patents, conducting a scoping review of the literature followed by inductive thematic analysis on 54 peer-reviewed papers (published between 1999 and 2021). Reports were harmonized into an integrative framework, bringing forward a complex interplay of 97 distinct effects and 14 overarching impact themes. While broad consensus is observed for some effects, many nuances and even directly contradicting statements are identified as well. It highlights the context-dependency and relativity of effects, and underscores the complexity of grasping patents’ impact in the real world. In line with systems thinking, we performed additional thematic analysis on the framework of effects, identifying seven concepts as common denominators for disparate effects and impact themes. Being reflected across the dataset, these can guide the selection of targets for broad-based system improvements. Solutions for low patent quality and profiteering, common denominators for several effects that are almost unanimously perceived as detrimental, seem imperative. The presented framework and common denominators provide a basis for further interdisciplinary evaluations of patent effects and their desirability for different stakeholders and society at large.