Law Commons^™

Economic Theory, Divided Infringement, And Enforcing Interactive Patents, W. Keith Robinson

Florida Law Review

High tech companies—especially in the emerging areas of the Internet of Things, wearable devices, and personalized medicine—have found it difficult to enforce their patents on interactive technologies. Enforcement is especially difficult when multiple parties combine to perform all of the steps of a claimed method, which is referred to as joint or divided infringement. Because of this difficulty, some commentators advocate that “interactive” patents susceptible to divided infringement should not be enforced at all.

In contrast, this Article argues that economic theory supports the enforcement of interactive patents. Previous papers have analyzeddivided infringement problems from a doctrinal and policy perspective.This …

Saving Homes? Bankruptcies And Loan Modifications In The Foreclosure Crisis, Alan M. White, Carolina Reid

Florida Law Review

Do homeowner bankruptcy filings work to delay or prevent home foreclosures, and how do they compare to voluntary loan modifications specifically targeted to mortgage relief? The 2007–2012 financial crisis provides a unique opportunity to assess whether bankruptcy can help homeowners avoid the negative consequences of over-indebtedness and mortgage default. This empirical study analyzes a large, loan-level mortgage dataset to determine which variables are associated with delinquency and bankruptcy filing, and in turn, whether filing bankruptcy or receiving a loan modification measurably influences subsequent loan outcomes (e.g., foreclosure sale, prepayment, or default cure). Overall, we find that bankruptcy filings delay foreclosures …