The objective of this paper is to develop a framework that comprehensively elicits the uses of patents. To do so, we start by challenging the traditional definition of patents as a mechanism of protection of innovations by defining them more broadly as a mechanism of governance of organizations’ innovative activities, both at the intra- and at the inter-organizational level. We thus show that patents have four main uses: a performance indicator, a motivation device, a reputation vector, and a protection instrument. We then detail the concrete implementation of these uses as well as their limitations. We finally discuss the scientific and managerial implications of this framework. JEL Codes: L20, O32