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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Null Patent, Sean B. Seymore
The Null Patent, Sean B. Seymore
William & Mary Law Review
Failure is the basis of much of scientific progress because it plays a key role in building knowledge. In fact, negative results compose the bulk of knowledge produced in scientific research. This is not a bad thing because failures always produce valuable technical information—whether it be a serendipitous finding, an abundance of unexpected technical data, or simply knowledge that an initial hypothesis was totally wrong. Though some have recognized that the dissemination of negative results has many upsides for science, transforming scientific norms toward disclosure is no easy task. As for patent law, the potentially important role that negative results …
Self-Realizing Inventions And The Utilitarian Foundation Of Patent Law, Alan Devlin, Neel Sukhatme
Self-Realizing Inventions And The Utilitarian Foundation Of Patent Law, Alan Devlin, Neel Sukhatme
William & Mary Law Review
Unlike other forms of intellectual property, patents are universally justified on utilitarian grounds alone. Valuable inventions and discoveries, bearing the characteristics of public goods, are easily appropriated by third parties. Because much technological innovation occurs pursuant to significant expenditures—both in terms of upfront research and subsequent commercialization costs—inventors must be permitted to extract at least part of the social gain associated with their technological contributions. Absent some form of proprietary control or alternative reward system, economics predicts that suboptimal capital will be devoted to the innovative process. This widely accepted principle comes with an important corollary: namely, that canons of …
A Realistic Approach To The Obviousness Of Inventions, Daralyn J. Durie, Mark A. Lemley
A Realistic Approach To The Obviousness Of Inventions, Daralyn J. Durie, Mark A. Lemley
William & Mary Law Review
No abstract provided.
Inherency, Dan L. Burk, Mark A. Lemley
Inherency, Dan L. Burk, Mark A. Lemley
William & Mary Law Review
No abstract provided.
Nonobviousness In Patent Law: A Question Of Law Or Fact?
Nonobviousness In Patent Law: A Question Of Law Or Fact?
William & Mary Law Review
No abstract provided.