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Patent-Eligible Subject Matter... Still Wielding The Wrong Weapon - 12 Years Later, Kristen Osenga
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter... Still Wielding The Wrong Weapon - 12 Years Later, Kristen Osenga
Law Faculty Publications
I am delighted to have participated in the Second Annual Intellectual Property Redux Conference and to publish this essay. I rarely look back at my older articles, but in Fall 2018 I was asked to give a keynote address at a conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), where the organizers asked me to speak about 35 U.S.C. § 101 and patent-eligible subject matter. In preparing my remarks, I had the opportunity to refer back to one of my earliest scholarly pieces—a 2007 article entitled Ants, Elephant Guns, and Statutory Subject Matter, published in the Arizona State Law Journal.1 …
The Hidden Value Of Abandoned Applications To The Patent System, Christopher A. Cotropia, David L. Schwartz
The Hidden Value Of Abandoned Applications To The Patent System, Christopher A. Cotropia, David L. Schwartz
Law Faculty Publications
Some inventors abandon their patent applications without ever receiving a patent. Although patent scholars view such abandoned patent applications as essentially worthless, we question that conventional wisdom. Conducting an empirical analysis of a recently released patent application dataset in light of a 1999 change that requires publication of most abandoned applications, we find that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) often uses abandoned applications as “prior art” when examining future patent applications. Abandoned applications thus generate an “administrative disclosure” that prevents the issuance of broader patent rights to later applicants. By narrowing the scope of new patents, abandoned …
The Hidden Value Of Abandoned Applications To The Patent System, Christopher A. Cotropia, David L. Schwartz
The Hidden Value Of Abandoned Applications To The Patent System, Christopher A. Cotropia, David L. Schwartz
Law Faculty Publications
Some inventors abandon their patent applications without ever receiving a patent. Although patent scholars view such abandoned applications as essentially worthless, we question that conventional wisdom. In conducting an empirical analysis of a recently released patent application dataset (in light of a 1999 change requiring publication of most abandoned applications), we find that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) often uses abandoned applications as prior art when examining future patent applications. Abandoned applications thus generate an administrative disclosure that prevents the issuance of broader patent rights to later applicants. By narrowing the scope of new patents, abandoned applications …