Law Commons^™

A Conversation On Judicial Decision-Making, Robin Feldman

Robin C Feldman

Both breathtakingly broad and minutely particular, the doctrine of patentable subject matter asks us to consider which innovations are of the type for which we might grant protection. Do we include living creatures, for example, or genes? Are computer algorithms included, and just what is an algorithm anyway? These are the types of questions that the Supreme Court has considered in a number of recent cases on patentable subject matter.

Looking closely at the recent cases, a fascinating conversation emerges between the Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit. It is a conversation not just about the nature of patents, but …

Intellectual Property Wrongs, Robin Feldman

Robin C Feldman

Intellectual property has become a pervasive presence in society. Seeping into every nook and cranny of American life, intellectual property casts a protective haze over everything from the words of an email to the sequence of genes. Increasingly, these rights are being pressed into the service of schemes that have little to do with the advancement of societal goals and much to do with societal waste. What do we, as a society, do when the rights that we have created with such lofty goals and noble heart are diverted toward less admirable pursuits, that is, when IP rights become the …

The Gao 500: Effects Of Non-Practicing Entities On Patent Litigation, Robin C. Feldman, Sara Jeruss, Joshua Walker

Robin C Feldman

Any discussion of flaws in the United States patent system inevitably turns to the system’s modern villain: non-practicing entities, known more colorfully as patent trolls. For many years, however, discussions about non practicing entities have been long on speculation and short on data.

In 2011 Congress directed the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office to study the effects of non-practicing entities on patent litigation. Our study was performed at the request of the GAO, examining patent lawsuits filed over the past five years. The data confirm in a dramatic fashion what many scholars and commentators have suspected: patent monetization entities play a …