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Full-Text Articles in Law
Imperfect Property Rights, James Bessen
Imperfect Property Rights, James Bessen
Faculty Scholarship
In theory, property rights allow markets to achieve Pareto optimal allocations. But the literature on contracting largely ignores what happens when property rights are imperfectly defined and enforced. Although some models include weak enforcement or poorly defined rights or "anticommons," this paper develops a general model that includes all of these possibilities. I find that combinations matter: Policy prescriptions to remedy individual imperfections are sometimes inappropriate under other conditions. For example, stronger penalties for violating rights can decrease Pareto efficiency, contrary to a common view. Also, collective rights organizations, such as patent pools, sometimes worsen problems of overlapping claims.
Debunking Blackstonian Copyright, Shyamkrishna Balganesh
Debunking Blackstonian Copyright, Shyamkrishna Balganesh
All Faculty Scholarship
This is a review of Neil Weinstock Netanel’s Copyright’s Paradox (2008).
Intellectual Liability, Daniel A. Crane
Intellectual Liability, Daniel A. Crane
Articles
Intellectual property is increasingly a misnomer since the right to exclude is the defining characteristic of property and incentives to engage in inventive and creative activity are increasingly being granted in the form of liability rights (which allow the holder of the right to collect a royalty from users) rather than property rights (which allow the holder of the right to exclude others from using the invention or creation). Much of this recent reorientation in the direction of liability rules arises from a concern over holdout or monopoly power in intellectual property. The debate over whether liability rules or property …
When Less Liability May Mean More Precaution: The Case Of Nanotechnology, David A. Dana
When Less Liability May Mean More Precaution: The Case Of Nanotechnology, David A. Dana
Faculty Working Papers
The heart of the Article is an exploration of the possible role of common law tort liability in both encouraging and deterring voluntary, precautionary study of new products generally and nanotechnology products in particular. A key variable in considering liability's role as an incentive or deterrent to testing is the manufacturer's subjective assessment of the probability that any injuries from its product would be detected by the injured parties and successfully attributed to the product absent research by the manufacturer itself on the adverse effects of the product. Another key variable is the legal standard for tort liability, and specifically …
The Contextual Rationality Of The Precautionary Principle, David A. Dana
The Contextual Rationality Of The Precautionary Principle, David A. Dana
Faculty Working Papers
This article defines the precautionary principle (PP) primarily based on what it is not: it is not quantitative cost-benefit analysis (CBA) or cost-cost analysis of the sort we associate with the Office of Management and Budget in the United States and U.S. policymaking and policy discourse generally. In this definition, the PP is a form of analysis in which the costs of a possible environmental or health risk are not quantified, or if they are, any quantification is likely to be inadequate to capture the full extent of the costs of not taking regulatory measures to mitigate or avoid the …
Accession And Original Ownership, Thomas W. Merrill
Accession And Original Ownership, Thomas W. Merrill
Faculty Scholarship
Although first possession is generally assumed to be the dominant means of establishing original ownership of property, there is a second but less studied principle for initiating ownership, called accession, which awards new resources to the owner of existing property most prominently connected to the new resource. Accession applies across a wide variety of areas, from determining rights to baby animals and growing crops to determining ownership of derivative rights under intellectual property laws. Accession shares common features with first possession, in that both principles assign ownership uniquely in a way that imposes minimal information cost burdens on society. But …
The Public Policy Exception To Recognition And Enforcement Of Judgments In Cases Of Copyright Infringement, Marketa Trimble
The Public Policy Exception To Recognition And Enforcement Of Judgments In Cases Of Copyright Infringement, Marketa Trimble
Scholarly Works
In recent years proposals have been made for an international convention that would facilitate a smooth recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in intellectual property matters. Like all of these proposals, the American Law Institute’s preliminary version, short titled "Draft Principles" published in March 2007, strives to eliminate most hurdles to recognition and enforcement by providing rules for jurisdiction, choice of law and coordination of multi-territorial actions. As long as the rules are applied by the court that issues a judgment (the “rendering court”), most of the obstacles to recognition and enforcement − differing jurisdictional rules and choice of law …
Of Patents And Property, Michael J. Meurer, James Bessen
Of Patents And Property, Michael J. Meurer, James Bessen
Faculty Scholarship
Do patents behave substantially like property rights in tangible assets, in that they encourage development and innovation? This article notes that historical evidence, cross-country evidence, economic experiments, and estimates of net benefits all indicate that general property rights institutions have a substantial direct effect on economic growth. Conversely, with a few important exceptions like chemicals and pharmaceuticals, empirical evidence indicates that intellectual property rights have at best only a weak and indirect effect on economic growth. Further, it appears that for public firms in most industries today, patents may actually discourage investment in innovation for fear of winding up on …