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The Cost Of Novelty, Will Nicholson Price Ii
The Cost Of Novelty, Will Nicholson Price Ii
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Patent law tries to spur the development of new and better innovative technology. But it focuses much more on “new” than “better”—and it turns out that “new” carries real social costs. I argue that patent law promotes innovation that diverges from existing technology, either a little (what I call “differentiating innovation”) or a lot (“exploring innovation”), at the expense of innovation that tells us more about existing technology (“deepening innovation”). Patent law’s focus on newness is unsurprising, and fits within a well-told narrative of innovative diversity accompanied by market selection of the best technologies. Unfortunately, innovative diversity brings not only …
Opting Into Device Regulation In The Face Of Uncertain Patentability, Rebecca S. Eisenberg
Opting Into Device Regulation In The Face Of Uncertain Patentability, Rebecca S. Eisenberg
Articles
This article examines the intersection of patent law, FDA regulation, and Medicare coverage in a particularly promising field of biomedical innovation: genetic diagnostic testing. First, I will discuss current clinical uses of genetic testing and directions for further research, with a focus on cancer, the field in which genetic testing has had the greatest impact to date. Second, I will turn to patent law and address two recent Supreme Court decisions that called into question the patentability of many of the most important advances in genetic testing. Third, I will step outside patent law to take a broader view of …