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Full-Text Articles in Intellectual Property Law
Collusion And Collective Action In The Patent System: A Proposal For Patent Bounties, John R. Thomas
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 …