Digital Commons Network^™

Co-Curricular Innovation: Teaching About Patents As Primary Sources, Bridget Garnai, Heidi Gauder

Roesch Library Faculty Publications

With the rich history of airplane and automotive invention in Dayton, Ohio, and the value of patents as primary sources in mind, librarians Bridget Garnai and Heidi Gauder designed and led two interactive, co-curricular workshops at University of Dayton’s (UD) Roesch Library in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020. Their goals were to introduce students to patents as primary sources that influence daily life and expand students’ ideas of what kinds of research can be supported by patents as primary sources. To that end, Garnai and Gauder created two workshops centered around patents as primary sources, “Patent Pending: Innovation in Society” …

The “Dulled” & Disappearing Gem City: An Attempt To Restore The Social And Economic Forces Of Dayton, Ohio While Incorporating Ecological Principles, Hailey Lane

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

In 1903, Dayton garnered the greatest number of patents per capita relative to any other U.S. city. It was the epicenter for the creation of the cash register, powered flight, catalytic convertor in automobiles, parking meter, stepladder, and electric wheelchair. Dayton’s history is comprised of the dual forces of innovation and invention. While innovation is not a foreign concept to the Dayton community, it’s Silicon Valley-esque status has since dissipated and patent numbers are subsequently falling. The Great Recession reduced manufacturing in Dayton through subsequent closures in factories; this oriented Dayton towards being a more service-oriented city. (Millsap, 2017, p. …

Engaging First Year Students With Intellectual Property, Marian G. Armour-Gemmen

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Since intellectual property is so important to engineers, creating enthusiasm from the beginning of their engineering studies is imperative. Since first year students have not learned how to apply technological concepts to real life, demonstrating intellectual property could be a challenge. To engage first year engineering students in the concept and the value of intellectual property, students were introduced to basic concepts and applications. Different concepts were applied to real life examples allowing them to interface with technology from an intellectual property perspective. This paper highlights not only patents, but also trademarks and trade secrets.

Justice Department's New Position On Patents, Standard Setting, And Injunctions, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

A deep split in American innovation policy has arisen between new economy and old economy innovation. In a recent policy statement, the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department takes a position that tilts more toward the old economy. Its December, 2019, policy statement on remedies for Standard Essential Patents issued jointly with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Institute of Standards and Technology reflects this movement.

The policy statement as a whole contains two noteworthy problems: one is a glaring omission, and the other is a mischaracterization of the scope of antitrust liability. Both positions are strongly …

Is Imperialism Passé In The 21st Century?, Rohit Azad, Shouvik Chakraborty

PERI Working Papers

Hardt and Negri in Empire argue that ”Imperialism is over.” On the contrary, others argue that not only is imperialism not dead, but its machinations have amplified during the phase of globalisation (Patnaik’s The Value of Money, Patnaik and Patnaik’s A Theory of Imperialism, John Smith’s Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century, among others). The reason for this sharp division among progressives is because of the current world scenario. On the one hand, some countries in the periphery (emerging economies) are growing faster than those in the core. On the other hand, the terms of trade has started moving in favour …

Mapping Misinformation In The Coronavirus Outbreak, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

The coronavirus outbreak has sent ripples of fear and confusion across the world. These sentiments—and our collective responses to the outbreak—are made worse by rampant misinformation surrounding the new strain of the virus, COVID-2019. In this post, I survey some of the most pervasive areas of tentacular coronavirus-related misinformation that has proliferated online -- as well as the responses of social media companies like YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok that may ultimately prove inadequate given the magnitude of the problem.

Inventor Mobility, Human Capital, And The Propensity To Patent, David Youngberg, Joshua Hall

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Using 1975-1992 patent data this article untangles two opposing effects of knowledge spillovers: increasing productivity of invention (encouraging higher-quality patents) and increasing trade secret leakage to competitors (encouraging lower-quality patents). Using geographic labor mobility to predict the former and industry labor mobility in the latter, we find that doubling the rate of industry level labor mobility of scientists and engineers decreases patent quality. Results from doubling the rate of regional level mobility are mixed, but suggest an increase in patent quality.

Open Knowledge Commons Versus Privatized Gain In A Fractured Information Ecology: Lessons From Covid-19 For The Future Of Sustainability, Martin Hensher, Katie Kish, Joshua Farley, Stephen Quilley, Katharine Zywert

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

COVID-19 has shone a bright light on a number of failings and weaknesses in how current economic models handle information and knowledge. Some of these are familiar issues that have long been understood but not acted upon effectively – for example, the danger that current systems of intellectual property and patent protection are actually inimical to delivering a cost-effective vaccine available to all, whereas treating knowledge as a commons and a public good is much more likely to deliver efficient outcomes for the entire global population. But COVID-19 has also demonstrated that traditional models of knowledge production and dissemination are …

Frand And Antitrust, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper considers when a patentee’s violation of a FRAND commitment also violates the antitrust laws. It warns against two extremes. First, is thinking that any violation of a FRAND obligation is an antitrust violation as well. FRAND obligations are contractual, and most breaches of contract do not violate antitrust law. The other extreme is thinking that, because a FRAND violation is a breach of contract, it cannot also be an antitrust violation.

Every antitrust case must consider the market environment in which conduct is to be evaluated. SSOs operated by multiple firms are joint ventures. Antitrust’s role is to …