Science and Technology Law Commons^™

Of Patents And Path Dependency: A Comment On Burk And Lemley, R. Polk Wagner

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article delves into issues surrounding the relationship between technology and the patent law. Responding to Dan Burk and Mark Lemley's earlier article, Is Patent Law Technology-Specific?, the piece notes that the basic question posed by Burk and Lemley's article is a relatively easy question given the several doctrines that explicitly link the subject matter context of an invention to the validity and scope of related patents. This sort of technological exceptionalism (which this Article refers to as micro-exceptionalism) is both observable and easily justifiable for a legal regime directed to technology policy. In contrast, Burk and Lemley's identification of, …

Would Mandating Network Neutrality Help Or Hurt Broadband Competition? A Comment On The End-To-End Debate, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Software Patent Experiment, Robert M. Hunt, James Bessen

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past two decades, the scope of technologies that can be patented has been expanded to include many items previously thought unsuitable for patenting, for example, computer software. Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants 20,000 or more software patents a year. Conventional wisdom holds that extending patent protection to computer programs will stimulate research and development and, thus, increase the rate of innovation. In this article, Bob Hunt and Jim Bessen investigate whether this has, in fact, happened. They describe the spectacular growth in software patenting, who obtains patents, and the relationship between a sharp focus on …

The Unfulfilled Promise Of Korean Telecommunications Reform, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

The deployment of telecommunications services in Korea represents one of the great technological success stories of the developing world. In a remarkably brief period, the penetration of local telephone service, wireless telephony, and broadband technologies has soared to among the highest levels in the world. The history of Korean telecommunications thus provides a useful case study for other developing countries seeking to expand and modernize their telecommunications infrastructures. At first blush, the explosive growth of telecommunications services has appeared to go hand in hand with the liberalization of Korea's telecommunications markets. A review of the history of Korean telecommunications reform …

Introduction: A Regulatory Regime For The Internet Age, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

No abstract provided.

The New Technology Transfer Block Exemption: A Welcome Reform, After All, Maurits Dolmans, Anu Bradford

Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the most important changes introduced at the final stage of the Commission's review of the technology transfer block exemption regulation (“TTBER"), and examines the benefits and the challenges of the new regulatory framework for technology licensing.

The new TTBER represents a significant improvement over the Commission's draft TTBER, published in October 2003. Most importantly, the Commission agreed to revise the list of hardcore restrictions between competitors, which was over-inclusive and had the potential to seriously hinder technology licensing in horizontal agreements. In addition, the list of hardcore restrictions between non-competitors and the interpretation of "know-how'' (and thus …

Ownership Of Human Tissue: A Proposal For Federal Recognition Of Human Research Participants' Property Rights In Their Biological Material, Donna M. Gitter

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Intersection Of Law And Medicine: The Case For Providing Federal Funding For Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Allison B. Newhart

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Law, Technology & The Arts Symposium: The Past, Present And Future Of The Federal Circuit, Gerald Korngold

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Obvious To Whom? Evaluating Inventions From The Perspective Of Phosita, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Articles

In this Article, I consider the possibility of giving the USPTO input from currently active technological practitioners in evaluating the obviousness of claimed inventions. Such input could potentially serve three useful functions. First, it could improve the accuracy of USPTO decisionmaking by providing access to the perspective of actual practitioners as to the obviousness of inventions from the perspective of the hypothetical PHOSITA. Second, it could help the USPTO document the evidentiary basis for rejections that rest in part upon tacit knowledge within technological communities. Third, it could provide a quality control mechanism that would improve the credibility of USPTO …

Albert Einstein, Esq., Steven Goldberg

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Albert Einstein’s 1905 paper setting forth the special theory of relativity is one of the most famous scientific articles ever written. Peter Galison’s influential book, Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps: Empires of Time (2003), demonstrates that Einstein’s paper was fundamentally shaped by his work as a patent examiner by showing that arguments previously seen as abstract thought experiments were instead derived from Einstein’s work on patent applications for devices that coordinate clocks. Moving beyond Galison’s insights, we can see portions of Einstein’s paper as reflecting the quasi-judicial role of a patent examiner. Like trial judges, patent examiners must apply settled legal …

Rethinking Racial Profiling: A Critique Of The Economics, Civil Liberties, And Constitutional Literature, And Of Criminal Profiling More Generally, Bernard Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

New reporting requirements and data collection efforts by over four hundred law enforcement agencies across the country – including entire states such as Maryland, Missouri, and Washington – are producing a continuous flow of new evidence on highway police searches. For the most part, the data consistently show disproportionate searches of African-American and Hispanic motorists in relation to their estimated representation on the road. Economists, civil liberties advocates, legal and constitutional scholars, political scientists, lawyers, and judges are poring over the new data and reaching, in many cases, quite opposite conclusions about racial profiling.