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Full-Text Articles in Law
Testimony Before The House Committee On Energy And Commerce, Hearing On Patent Demand Letter Practices And Solutions, Paul Gugliuzza
Testimony Before The House Committee On Energy And Commerce, Hearing On Patent Demand Letter Practices And Solutions, Paul Gugliuzza
Faculty Scholarship
A small number of patent holders have been abusing the patent system. These patent holders blanket the country with thousands of letters demanding that the recipients purchase a license for a few thousand dollars or else face an infringement suit. The letters are usually sent to small businesses and nonprofits that do not have the resources to investigate allegations of patent infringement. And the letters often contain false or misleading statements designed to scare the recipient into purchasing a license without investigating the claims of infringement. In an attempt to address this problem, eighteen states have recently passed statutes that, …
The Patent Litigation Explosion, James Bessen, Michael J. Meurer
The Patent Litigation Explosion, James Bessen, Michael J. Meurer
Faculty Scholarship
This Article provides the first look at patent litigation hazards for public firms during the 1980s and 1990s. Litigation is more likely when prospective plaintiffs acquire more patents, when firms are larger and technologically close and when prospective defendants spend more on research and development ("R&D"). The latter suggests inadvertent infringement may be more important than piracy. Public firms face dramatically increased hazards of litigation as plaintiffs and even more rapidly increasing hazards as defendants, especially for small public firms. The increase cannot be explained by patenting rates, R&D, firm value or industry composition. Legal changes are the most likely …
The Public's Right To Fair Use: Amending Section 107 To Avoid The 'Fared Use' Fallacy, Wendy J. Gordon, Daniel Bahls
The Public's Right To Fair Use: Amending Section 107 To Avoid The 'Fared Use' Fallacy, Wendy J. Gordon, Daniel Bahls
Faculty Scholarship
Under provocative titles like "Fared Use"1 and "The End of Friction,"2 commentators argue about whether or not the copyright doctrine of fair use3 should exist in a world of instantaneous transactions. As collecting societies such as the Copyright Clearance Center have become more powerful, and technologies like cellular phones and the internet have made it possible to purchase digital copies by dialing a number or clicking a mouse, the suggestion is sometimes made that fair use could or should disappear. The Second and Sixth Circuits have flirted with foreclosing fair use if a licensing market is present …
The 'Why' Of Markets: Copyright And Fair Use, Wendy J. Gordon
The 'Why' Of Markets: Copyright And Fair Use, Wendy J. Gordon
Faculty Scholarship
Jim Gibson is right that courts should be wary of letting the mere presence of licensing improperly foreclose the defense of fair use. 1 As he says, a court in a copyright infringement case should not treat the existence of a market for licenses of the work as a factor weighing against the defendant’s claim of fair use until the court has examined “why [that] licensing market exists.”2 However, Gibson fails to distinguish the varying reasons licensing might be relevant to a fair use determination. As a result, the solution he proffers— attributing relevance to licensing only in markets free …
Lessons For Patent Policy From Empirical Research On Patent Litigation, Michael J. Meurer, James Bessen
Lessons For Patent Policy From Empirical Research On Patent Litigation, Michael J. Meurer, James Bessen
Faculty Scholarship
This Article reviews empirical patent litigation research to reveal patent policy lessons. First, the Article presents facts about patent litigation. Next, it analyzes the patent premium. Patent litigation research reveals little about the magnitude of the patent premium, but the research reveals the strategies firms use to capture the patent premium and the patent policy instruments that determine the patent premium. Next, the Article evaluates the patent prosecution process and notes that making efforts to refine a patent application can affect the value of the patent. The Article then identifies reforms for improving PTO performance. Finally, the Article discusses policy …
Hold-Up And Patent Licensing Of Cumulative Innovations With Private Information, James Bessen
Hold-Up And Patent Licensing Of Cumulative Innovations With Private Information, James Bessen
Faculty Scholarship
When innovation is cumulative, early patentees hold claims against later innovators. Then potential hold-up may cause prospective second stage innovators to forego investing in R&D. It is sometimes argued that ex ante licensing (before R&D) avoids hold-up. This paper explores ex ante licensing when information about development cost is private. In this case, contracts may not be written ex ante. Moreover, the socially optimal division of profit occurs with weak patents and ex post licensing. Empirical evidence on licensing conforms to a model with private information. In some innovative industries, little ex ante licensing occurs, suggesting hold-up remains a problem.
Commentary On Economic And Ethical Reasons For Protecting Data, Wendy J. Gordon
Commentary On Economic And Ethical Reasons For Protecting Data, Wendy J. Gordon
Faculty Scholarship
Like Jane Ginsburg, I would like to drop back a bit, to talk about more general principles. Essentially, both of our primary speakers focused on a distinction between property and non-property modes of protecting data. I would like to highlight the economic and ethical reasons for maintaining that distinction.
Symposium: Patent Rights And Licensing, Michael S. Baram, Ashley Stevens, Thomas Meyers, Michael J. Meurer
Symposium: Patent Rights And Licensing, Michael S. Baram, Ashley Stevens, Thomas Meyers, Michael J. Meurer
Faculty Scholarship
This panel will discuss intellectual property - the patent incentive, patentability issues, licensing, and litigation-related matters. It will be moderated by Dr. Ashley Stevens, the Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at Boston University. Ashley has multiple degrees, including a doctorate in physical chemistry from Oxford University. He has worked in the biotech industry for a number of years, mostly with startup companies and academic research organizations such as the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where he was also Director of Technology Transfer. Ashley was instrumental in the startup and operations of firms such as Biotechnica International, and started his …