Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Law

A Proposal For A Clean Technology Directive: European Patent Law And Climate Change, Matthew Rimmer Nov 2011

A Proposal For A Clean Technology Directive: European Patent Law And Climate Change, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This article charts the conflicted, dissonant policies of the European Union towards intellectual property and climate change. It contends that there is a mismatch between the empirical work of the European Patent Office and the quietist policy options contemplated by the European Union. This article contends that the European Union needs to develop a Clean Technology Directive to allow for a differentiated approach to patent law and clean technologies – especially given the past complicity of the European Union in global warming and climate change. It highlights essential elements in a comprehensive policy package for the reform of patent law …


Reconceiving The Patent Rocket Docket: An Empirical Study Of Infringement Litigation 1985-2010, Saurabh Vishnubhakat Oct 2011

Reconceiving The Patent Rocket Docket: An Empirical Study Of Infringement Litigation 1985-2010, Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Faculty Scholarship

This Article presents the first survival model for systematically identifying and comparing United States district courts as patent rocket dockets, and for examining related trends in patent litigation. The conventional wisdom of rocket docket status in a judicial district tends to rely on average case disposition times and the availability of court rules for patent cases, as well as anecdotal information about well-known jurists with experience in patent adjudication.

By comparison, this Article approaches rocket dockets through a quantitative investigation of recent historical trends in patent case filings as well as through market concentration analysis at the district court and …


Dicta On Adrenalin(E): Myriad Problems With Learned Hand's Product-Of-Nature Pronouncements In Parke-Davis V. Mulford, Jon M. Harkness Aug 2011

Dicta On Adrenalin(E): Myriad Problems With Learned Hand's Product-Of-Nature Pronouncements In Parke-Davis V. Mulford, Jon M. Harkness

Jon M. Harkness

Gene patents of the type at issue in the Myriad case that is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court in the near future are based on an exception to the general principle that patents should not be allowed on products of nature. This exception holds that isolated or purified products of nature can be patented if they have commercial utility. It is widely recognized that this exception can be traced to language from an opinion issued by Judge Learned Hand in a 1911 case, Parke-Davis v. Mulford, which involved a patent dispute over a therapeutically useful version of the …


Rules For Patents, Michael J. Burstein May 2011

Rules For Patents, Michael J. Burstein

William & Mary Law Review

There is widespread agreement that the patent system in the United States is in need of reform. Most of the proposals for patent reform that have proliferated in recent years share two common assumptions: first, that patent policy is best made through case-bycase adjudication of the validity of individual patents; and, second, that the existing allocation of authority over patent policy, in which the courts are primarily responsible for interpreting and applying the broad language of the Patent Act, ought not to be disturbed. This
Article challenges both assumptions. I approach the problem of patent reform primarily as a problem …


Owning Omega-3: Monsanto And The Invention Of Meat, Matthew Rimmer Mar 2011

Owning Omega-3: Monsanto And The Invention Of Meat, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

In August of 2010, Anna Salleh of the Science Unit of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation broke a story about Monsanto seeking to patent the enhancement of meat, including omega-3 fatty acids:‘Enhanced port is sparking debate over the ethics of placing patents on food. Patent applications covering the enhancement of meat, including pork with omega-3 fatty acids, are stimulating debate over the ethics and legalities of claiming intellectual property over food. Monsanto has filed patents that cover the feeding of animals soybeans, which have been genetically modified by the company to contain stearidonic acid (SDA), a plant-derived omega-3 fatty acid... Omega-3s …


Patent Amicus Briefs: What The Courts’ Friends Can Teach Us About The Patent System, Colleen Chien Jan 2011

Patent Amicus Briefs: What The Courts’ Friends Can Teach Us About The Patent System, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

Over the last two decades, more than a thousand amici, representing hundreds of organizations, companies, and individuals, have signed onto amicus briefs in over a hundred patent cases, many of them landmark decisions. This paper turns the spotlight on these “behind-the-scenes” actors in the patent system, combining theoretical insights with an empirical study of amicus briefs filed in patent cases over the last 20 years in an examination of patent interest groups, the positions they have advocated, and the effectiveness of their advocacy. Amicus filers appear to have been instrumental in shaping the courts’ agenda; the Supreme Court was seven …


Small Business Strategies Series: Patents & Trademarks, Robert Berry Jan 2011

Small Business Strategies Series: Patents & Trademarks, Robert Berry

Librarian Publications

A November 14 2011 presentation by Robert Berry, Research Librarian and Patent and Trademark Resource Center representative for the Sacred Heart University Library.


Trumbull Library System, Business Program: Patents & Business Intelligence, Amy Jansen, Robert Berry Jan 2011

Trumbull Library System, Business Program: Patents & Business Intelligence, Amy Jansen, Robert Berry

Librarian Publications

A November 10, 2011 presentation by Amy Jansen, Business Librarian at Sacred Heart University and Robert Berry, Research Librarian and Patent and Trademark Resource Center representative for the Sacred Heart University Library.


Joint Defense Or Research Joint Venture? Reassessing The Patent-Challenge-Bloc's Antitrust Status, Joseph S. Miller Jan 2011

Joint Defense Or Research Joint Venture? Reassessing The Patent-Challenge-Bloc's Antitrust Status, Joseph S. Miller

Scholarly Works

A patent challenger who defeats a patent wins spoils that it must share with the world, including all its competitors. This forced sharing undercuts an alleged infringer's incentive to stay in the fight to the finish - especially if the patent owner offers an attractive settlement. Too many settlements, and too few definitive patent challenges, are the result. I have argued previously that a litigation-stage bounty would help correct this tilt against patent challenges, for it would provide cash prizes to successful patent challengers that they alone would enjoy. Even the best-designed bounty, however, would likely fail to encourage patent …


Will Gene Patents Impede While Genome Sequencing?: Deconstructing The Myth That 20% Of The Human Genome Is Patented, Christopher M. Holman Jan 2011

Will Gene Patents Impede While Genome Sequencing?: Deconstructing The Myth That 20% Of The Human Genome Is Patented, Christopher M. Holman

Faculty Works

A 2005 Science article by Jensen and Murray is widely cited for the proposition that 20% of human genes are patented, and has led to a pervasive assumption that thousands of human genes cannot be used, studied or even 'looked at' by researchers and healthcare providers without infringing a gene patent. Many have voiced concern that this perceived thicket of gene patents will impede the implementation of next-generation genetic technologies, particularly personal whole genome sequencing (WGS). In fact, Jensen and Murray only showed that, with respect to 20% of human genes known at the time they conducted their study, either …


Patent Law Handbook, 2011-2012 Edition, Lawrence Sung, Jeff Schwartz Dec 2010

Patent Law Handbook, 2011-2012 Edition, Lawrence Sung, Jeff Schwartz

Lawrence M. Sung

Helps attorneys discern what the courts may find, while providing immediate access to current law. Also alerts attorneys to new developments in the law and how they may impact an individual practice. Easy access to information on validity; inequitable conduct; defenses and counterclaims; infringement; willful infringement; remedies; appeal; pretrial and trial issues; Patent Office proceedings; licensing; patent proceedings in other forms, including ITC proceedings and claims court. Also analyzes Federal Circuit’s approach to statutory subject matter as it relates to computer software, its decision clarifying the role of judges and juries in interpreting claims, and its holdings in other opinions.


Medical Device Patents, 2011 Edition, Lawrence Sung Dec 2010

Medical Device Patents, 2011 Edition, Lawrence Sung

Lawrence M. Sung

This product addresses the unique aspects of U.S. medical device patents, specifically durable medical equipment, and examines their grant and enforcement. Coverage includes information on prosecution, transfer, and litigation, including settlement. Patents for specific types of devices are addressed. The comprehensive treatment of patents in the medical specialties of orthopedics, cardiovascular disease, dentistry, ophthalmology, radiology, and surgery, among others, is a useful resource for readers, whether they seek competitive business insight or are curious about the history of medical technology development


Life After Bilski, Michael Risch Dec 2010

Life After Bilski, Michael Risch

Michael Risch

In Bilski v. Kappos, the Supreme Court declined calls to categorically exclude business methods - or any technology - from the patent law. It also rejected as the sole test of subject matter eligibility the Federal Circuit’s deeply-flawed "machine or transformation" test, under which no process is patentable unless it is tied to a particular machine or transforms an article to another state or thing. Subsequent developments threaten to undo that holding, however. Relying on the Court’s description of the Federal Circuit test as a "useful and important clue', the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, patent litigants, and district courts …


A Surprisingly Useful Requirement, Michael Risch Dec 2010

A Surprisingly Useful Requirement, Michael Risch

Michael Risch

For 220 years, the Patent Act has required patentable inventions to be “new and useful.” For almost as long, courts have struggled with difficult questions about what to protect by patent and what to leave in the public domain. Patent laws provide a variety of rules to help answer these questions, but the very nature of translating an inventive principle into written form can make application of these rules elusive. As a result, consistent application of patent law can often involve guesswork and hand-waving at the margins of difficult cases. There are many principled ways to make headway through such …