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Full-Text Articles in Law
Copyright, Wendy J. Gordon, Robert G. Bone
Copyright, Wendy J. Gordon, Robert G. Bone
Faculty Scholarship
Copyright is the branch of Intellectual Property Law that governs works of expression such as books, paintings and songs, and the expressive aspects of computer programs. Intellectual products such as these have a partially public goods character: they are largely inexhaustible and nonexcludable. Intellectual Property Law responds to inexcludability by giving producers legal rights to exclude nonpayers from certain usages of their intellectual products. The goal is to provide incentives for new production at fairly low transaction costs. However, the copyright owner will charge a price above marginal cost and this, coupled with the inexhaustibility of most copyrighted products, creates …
Evaluating Mistakes In Intellectual Property Law: Configuring The System To Account For Imperfection, Maureen A. O'Rourke
Evaluating Mistakes In Intellectual Property Law: Configuring The System To Account For Imperfection, Maureen A. O'Rourke
Faculty Scholarship
In this Essay, the author argues that in assessing the performance of the intellectual property laws, it is useful to conceive of intellectual property law as a system comprised of both interacting decision-makers and other sets of law. Those decisionmakers include Congress, the PTO, and courts, and the other relevant laws include antitrust and contract. The author reviews the major intellectual property statutes, illustrating ways in which different institutions may be situated to correct the errors of another and how antitrust and contract also can work to correct errors in the scope of protection. The Essay concludes by arguing that …
Toward A Doctrine Of Fair Use In Patent Law, Maureen A. O'Rourke
Toward A Doctrine Of Fair Use In Patent Law, Maureen A. O'Rourke
Faculty Scholarship
The intellectual property laws are becoming increasingly stressed as their largely time-worn doctrines grapple with problems posed by new technology. In this Article, Dean O'Rourke argues that this pressure has become particularly acute in patent law where policymakers have expanded protection without concomitantly evaluating the impact of that move on follow-on innovation. The traditional assumption that patentees will efficiently license their inventions is breaking down as market failures are becoming endemic. Dean O'Rourke argues that to ensure that patent law achieves its constitutional goals, it shuld, like copyright law, use a fair use defense to address problems of market failure. …
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 …