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Full-Text Articles in Law
Connect The Dots: Patents And Interdisciplinarity, Michal Shur-Ofry
Connect The Dots: Patents And Interdisciplinarity, Michal Shur-Ofry
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article unravels a troubling paradox in the ecosystem of innovation. Interdisciplinarity is widely recognized as a source of valuable innovation and a trigger for technological breakthroughs. Yet, patent law, a principal legal tool for promoting innovation, fails to acknowledge it in an explicit, consistent manner. Moreover, although the scientific understanding of the significance of interdisciplinarity for innovation increasingly relies on big data analyses of patent databases, patent law practically ignores patent data as a source of information about interdisciplinary innovation. This Article argues that patent law should connect the dots—explicitly recognize interdisciplinarity as a positive indication when deciding whether …
Expired Patents, Trade Secrets, And Stymied Competition, W. Nicholson Price Ii
Expired Patents, Trade Secrets, And Stymied Competition, W. Nicholson Price Ii
Articles
Patents and trade secrecy have long been considered substitute incentives for innovation. When inventors create a new invention, they traditionally must choose between the two. And if inventors choose to patent their invention, society provides strong legal protection in exchange for disclosure, with the understanding that the protection has a limit: it expires twenty years from the date of filing. At that time, the invention is opened to the public and exposed to competition. This story is incomplete. Patent disclosure is weak and focuses on one technical piece of an invention—but that piece is often only a part of the …