Digital Commons Network^™

Regulating In Uncertainty: Animating The Public Health Product Safety Net To Capture Consumer Products Regulated By The Fda That Use Innovative Technologies, Including Nanotechnologies, Genetic Modification, Cloning, And Lab Grown Meat, Katharine A. Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article will use nanotechnology as an example that highlights how regulation based on novelty rather than hazard achieves the proper balance between protecting public health while encouraging innovation through the animation of the public health product safety net. In Part II, this Article starts by explaining what nanotechnology is and the remarkable growth of its use in everyday consumer products. It then summarizes the steadily increasing number of studies that suggest that there are likely to be serious health risks associated with the use of nanotech consumer products. Next, it explains how the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] is …

Ignorance Over Innovation: Why Misunderstanding Standard Setting Organizations Will Hinder Technological Progress, Kristen Osenga

Law Faculty Publications

On January 17, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Qualcomm Inc. in federal district court, alleging antitrust violations in the company's licensing of semiconductor chips used in cell phones and more. The suit alleges, in part, that Qualcomm refuses to license its patents that cover innovations incorporated in technology standards (standard-essential patents, or SEPs), in contradiction of the company's promise to license this intellectual property on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms. According to the FTC, Qualcomm's behavior reduces competitors' ability to participate in the market, raises prices paid by consumers for products incorporating the standardized technology, and at …

Intellectual Property Issues For Startups Participating In Entrepreneurship Support Programs In Wisconsin, Nathaniel S. Hammons

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Wisconsin is not known as a bastion of startup activity. Yet the startup scene has changed significantly since the turn of the century, and the pace of change has been accelerating. In 2001, only eight early-stage Wisconsin companies raised capital, totaling less than $53 million. In 2016, by way of comparison, 137 early-stage Wisconsin companies raised more than $276 million in investment capital. As someone familiar with the state might surmise, more than half of the deals closed in 2016 were in the Madison area, home to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and large employers in information technology, healthcare, and life …

From Alice To Bob: The Patent Eligibility Of Blockchain In A Post-Cls Bank World, Antonio M. Dinizo

Journal of Law, Technology, & the Internet

Every year the World Economic Forum publishes a list of the top ten emerging technologies. This list of breakthrough technologies has included 3-D printing, self-healing biomimicry materials, and human microbiome therapeutics. In 2016, the financial technology Blockchain dominated the list. Over $1 billion was invested into Blockchain technology and major financial firms are actively exploring Blockchain innovation.

As innovators enter the Blockchain space, they have pushed for patent protection. This Note examines whether Blockchain is patent eligible. Patent eligibility for business methods and software patents is determined under the Supreme Court’s holding in Alice v. CLS Bank. The first section …

Assessing Access-To-Justice Outreach Strategies, J. J. Prescott

Articles

The need for prospective beneficiaries to “take up” new programs is a common stumbling block for otherwise well-designed legal and policy innovations. I examine the take-up problem in the context of publicly provided court services and test the effectiveness of various outreach strategies that announce a newly available online court access platform. I study individuals with minor arrest warrants whose distrust of courts may dampen any take-up response. I partnered with a court to quasi-randomly assign outreach approaches to a cohort of individuals and find that outreach improves take-up, that the type of outreach matters, and that online platform access …

Teva And The Process Of Claim Construction, Lee Petherbridge Ph.D., R. Polk Wagner

All Faculty Scholarship

In Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., the Supreme Court addressed an oft-discussed jurisprudential disconnect between itself and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: whether patent claim construction was “legal” or “factual” in nature, and how much deference is due to district court decisionmaking in this area. In this Article, we closely examine the Teva opinion and situate it within modern claim construction jurisprudence. Our thesis is that the Teva holding is likely to have only very modest effects on the incidence of deference to district court claim construction but that for unexpected reasons the …