  This paper evaluates the heterogenous impacts of the America Invents Act of
2011 (AIA) on patent applications for small and large businesses. Using data
collected from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and Google
Patents, I compare how the probability of successfully overcoming an initial
rejection is affected by the AIA for small- and large-business applicants,
respectively. This comparison is achieved by analyzing the data using a
difference-in-differences approach. Results suggest that after the enactment of
the AIA, small-business applicants were relatively favored when compared
against large-business applicants. This effect is statistically significant and
also practically large.
