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Patent

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

2006

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Coordination, Property & Intellectual Property: An Unconventional Approach To Anticompetitive Effects & Downstream Access, F. Scott Kieff Jan 2006

Coordination, Property & Intellectual Property: An Unconventional Approach To Anticompetitive Effects & Downstream Access, F. Scott Kieff

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Countless high profile cases like the recent patent litigation threatening to shut down the BlackBerry® service have long drawn sharp criticism; and in response, most of the intellectual property (IP) literature argues for the use of weaker, or liability rule, enforcement as a tool for solving the problems of anticompetitive effects and downstream access while still providing sufficient rewards to IP creators. This paper takes an unconventional approach under which rewards don't matter much, but coordination does matter a great deal. The paper shows how stronger, or property rule, enforcement facilitates the good type of coordination that increases competition and …


Engineering A Deal: Toward A Private Ordering Solution To The Anticommons Problem, F. Scott Kieff, Troy A. Paredes Jan 2006

Engineering A Deal: Toward A Private Ordering Solution To The Anticommons Problem, F. Scott Kieff, Troy A. Paredes

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The problems of the intellectual property ("IP") anticommons are infamous. Many people fear that the potential for vast numbers of IP rights to cover a single good or service will prevent an enterprise from even attempting to launch a business for fear of being unduly taxed or retarded or simply held up. This Article offers a solution based on private ordering within the context of existing laws. This approach uses a limited liability entity structured so that IP owners are given an actual stake in the operating business and thus an incentive to participate in the enterprise; and yet at …