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Intellectual Property Law

Georgetown University Law Center

Patent practice

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Law

Process Patents: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On The Judiciary, 110th Cong., May 1, 2007 (Statement Of John R. Thomas, Geo. U. L. Center), John R. Thomas May 2007

Process Patents: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On The Judiciary, 110th Cong., May 1, 2007 (Statement Of John R. Thomas, Geo. U. L. Center), John R. Thomas

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.


The Patent Reform Act Of 2007: Hearing Before The Subcomm. On Courts, The Internet, And Intellectual Property Of The H. Comm. On The Judiciary, 110th Cong., April 26, 2007 (Statement Of John R. Thomas, Geo. U. L. Center), John R. Thomas Apr 2007

The Patent Reform Act Of 2007: Hearing Before The Subcomm. On Courts, The Internet, And Intellectual Property Of The H. Comm. On The Judiciary, 110th Cong., April 26, 2007 (Statement Of John R. Thomas, Geo. U. L. Center), John R. Thomas

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.


Full Committee Hearing On The Importance Of Patent Reform On Small Business: Hearing Before The H. Comm. On Small Business, 110th Cong., Mar. 29, 2007 (Statement Of Professor John R. Thomas, Geo. U. L. Center), John R. Thomas Mar 2007

Full Committee Hearing On The Importance Of Patent Reform On Small Business: Hearing Before The H. Comm. On Small Business, 110th Cong., Mar. 29, 2007 (Statement Of Professor John R. Thomas, Geo. U. L. Center), John R. Thomas

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.


Brief Of International Business Machines Corporation As Amicus Curiae Supporting Neither Party, Laboratory Corporation Of America Holdings V. Metabolite Laboratories Inc., No. 04-607 (U.S. Dec. 23, 2005), John R. Thomas Dec 2005

Brief Of International Business Machines Corporation As Amicus Curiae Supporting Neither Party, Laboratory Corporation Of America Holdings V. Metabolite Laboratories Inc., No. 04-607 (U.S. Dec. 23, 2005), John R. Thomas

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.


Claim Re-Construction: The Doctrine Of Equivalents In The Post-Markman Era, John R. Thomas Jan 2005

Claim Re-Construction: The Doctrine Of Equivalents In The Post-Markman Era, John R. Thomas

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the post-Markman era, the Federal Circuit has focused attention on the public notice function of patent claims in equivalents cases, and it has come to emphasize precision and accuracy in claim drafting. This Article argues that recent judicial emphasis on the public notice function of patent claims is an inappropriate innovation policy. The demand for highly refined patent claims increases patent acquisition expenditures that are unlikely to increase social welfare, cause patent rights to be distributed unevenly, and are inconsistent with the structural features of the patent system. This Article presents two mechanisms to accommodate the doctrine of equivalents …


Liberty And Property In The Patent Law, John R. Thomas Jan 2002

Liberty And Property In The Patent Law, John R. Thomas

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Patents have seldom troubled civil libertarians. A specialized form of property, patents seemed pertinent to the technologies of traditional industry but little else. Patent instruments offered their readers mere technical documentation; patent cases presented no more than the mapping of a text onto an instantiated artifact; patent policy was principally oriented toward economic optimization of the length and scope of protection. Unbound from technology, contemporary patent law now seems a more robust discipline. Modern patent instruments appropriate a diverse array of techniques that span the entire range of human endeavor. Patent claims, cut loose from physical moorings, have grown more …


Collusion And Collective Action In The Patent System: A Proposal For Patent Bounties, John R. Thomas Jan 2001

Collusion And Collective Action In The Patent System: A Proposal For Patent Bounties, John R. Thomas

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Persistent commentary contends that the Patent Office is issuing patents that appropriate public domain concepts at an alarming frequency. Complaints of low patent quality enjoy growing resonance with regard to business methods, computer software, and other inventions for which patents were not traditionally sought. In this article, Professor Jay Thomas explains how the judiciary's lenient view of patentable subject matter and utility standards, along with miserly congressional funding policies, have rendered the Patent Office an increasingly porous agency. Professor Thomas next reviews existing proposals for improving patent quality, including the conventional wisdom that adoption of an opposition system will contribute …