  Much of the research on networks using patent data focuses on citations and
the collaboration networks of inventors, hence regarding patents as a positive
sign of invention. However, patenting is, most importantly, a strategic action
used by companies to compete with each other. This study sheds light on
inter-organisational adversarial relationships in patenting for the first time.
We constructed and analysed the network of companies connected via patent
opposition relationships that occurred between 1980 and 2018. A majority of the
companies are directly or indirectly connected to each other and hence form the
largest connected component. We found that in the network, many companies
disapprove patents in various industrial sectors as well as those owned by
foreign companies. The network exhibits heavy-tailed, power-law-like degree
distribution and assortative mixing, making it an unusual type of topology. We
further investigated the dynamics of the formation of this network by
conducting a temporal network motif analysis, with patent co-ownership among
the companies considered. By regarding opposition as a negative relationship
and patent co-ownership as a positive relationship, we analysed where
collaboration may occur in the opposition network and how such positive
relationships would interact with negative relationships. The results
identified the structurally imbalanced triadic motifs and the temporal patterns
of the occurrence of triads formed by a mixture of positive and negative
relationships. Our findings suggest that the mechanisms of the emergence of the
inter-organisational adversarial relationships may differ from those of other
types of negative relationships hence necessitating further research.
