Law Commons^™

The Accession Insight And Patent Infringement Remedies, Peter Lee

Michigan Law Review

What is the appropriate allocation of rights and obligations when one party, without authorization, substantially improves the property of another? According to the doctrine of accession, a good faith improver may take title to such improved property, subject to compensating the original owner for the value of the source materials. While shifting title to a converter seems like a remarkable remedy, this outcome merely underscores the equitable nature of accession, which aims for fair allocation of property rights and compensation between two parties who both have plausible claims to an improved asset. This Article draws upon accession-a physical property doctrine …

Efficient Uncertainty In Patent Interpretation, Harry Surden

Washington and Lee Law Review

Research suggests that widespread uncertainty over the scopes of issued patents creates significant costs for third-party firms and may decrease innovation. This Article addresses the scope uncertainty issue from a theoretical perspective by creating a model of patent claim scope uncertainty. It is often difficult for third parties to determine the legal coverage of issued patents. Scope underdetermination exists when the words of a patent claim are capable of a broad range of plausible scopes ex ante in light of the procedures for interpreting patents. Underdetermination creates uncertainty about claim coverage because a lay interpreter cannot know which interpretation will …

Breaking Patents, Daniel R. Cahoy

Michigan Journal of International Law

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Boeing aircraft company worked to address the rising cost of jet fuel by inventing lighter metal alloys for use in aerospace materials. Among its discoveries was a method of producing aluminum-lithium alloys with high "fracture toughness," and in 1989, Boeing received a patent for the process. Five years later, another aerospace company working as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contractor, Lockheed Martin, was attempting to solve a similar problem related to materials used in the space shuttle. Lighter materials were necessary for future shuttle missions to transport components of the International Space …

Closing One Loophole And Opening Another: Why Section 271(F) Patent Infringement Should Apply To Method Patents After Cardiac Pacemakers, Michael Silhasek

San Diego Law Review

This Comment will address the applicability of § 271(f) to method patents compared with other patented inventions-machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter. Part II will briefly discuss the primary purpose of the infringement statute, which is to encourage inventive action by granting rights to a patent holder. Part III will discuss the history of § 271(f) and the section's applicability to process patents. The Federal Circuit questioned the section's applicability to method patents, then affirmed it, then questioned it again, and then, most recently, rejected it. Part IV will examine other foreign activity that could lead to domestic infringement. Part …

Public Non-Commercial Use' Compulsory Licensing For Pharmaceutical Drugs In Government Health Care Programs, Pier Deroo

Michigan Journal of International Law

Suppose a relatively prosperous nation with universal public health coverage faces an HIV/AIDS crisis. It refuses to negotiate with the patent-holding manufacturers of the best antiretrovirals (ARVs) available, instead issuing compulsory licenses. Compulsory licenses permit the generic drug manufacturers designated in the compulsory licenses to make, use, import, and sell the patented ARVs without the permission of the patent owners, increasing competition and lowering prices. Realizing that drugs are much cheaper without patents, the nation decides to issue another round of compulsory licenses for an extensive list of patented drugs for its universal health care program. While improving public access …

Teva V. Eisai: What's The Real Controversy, Grace Wang

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Note examines the changing role of declaratory judgment actions in challenging patents upon generic entry and evaluates alternative regulatory schemes to the FDA's current system of patent enforcement in the drug approval setting. Part I reviews the Federal Circuit's recent decisions regarding generic drug entry, focusing on how the courts justify declaratory judgments in the current system and when a "controversy" exists to create Article III jurisdiction. Part II examines the complex system of regulating generic drug entry and how attempts to stop the exploitation of loopholes have resulted in a patchwork of regulation by various parties. It challenges …

Unjust Patents & Bargaining Breakdown: When Is Declaratory Relief Needed?, Chester Chuang

Publications

The Declaratory Judgment Act is a statute designed to give parties uncertain of their legal rights the ability to obtain a fair and impartial determination of those rights. Any action for declaratory relief must meet certain minimum jurisdictional requirements, but, interestingly, even if the case meets those requirements, the Act expressly gives courts the discretion to accept or decline the case. When, then, should a court take such a case, and when should it decline? This question is particularly important in patent cases given the frequency with which declaratory relief actions arise in patent litigation.

This Article contends that a …

Strength Of The International Trade Commission As A Patent Venue, Christopher A. Cotropia

Law Faculty Publications

The data suggests that the ITC is here to stay and almost all patent enforcement actions will take place, at least in part, in the ITC. The landscape of patent enforcement has permanently changed, and the ITC is a solid part of it. This Article reaches these conclusions by first, in Part I, describing the unique features of the ITC that make it a favored venue of patentees. Part II describes the Federal Circuit's decision in Kyocera and the various postulates as to its impact. Part III describes the study, the specific data obtained, and the results. Part IV analyzes …

A Penguin's Defense Of The Doctrine Of Equivalents, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga

Law Faculty Publications

There is no dearth of commentary about the doctrine of equivalents in patent law. Many articles proclaim the doctrine's death, often noting its passage with unbridled delight. Some articles provide empirical evidence to support the assertion that the doctrine of equivalents is dead. Others simply yearn for the doctrine to fade from use, pointing out that no court has "articulated a convincing rationale" for the doctrine's continued use. But maybe these scholars have it wrong. It may be true that the instances of doctrine of equivalents analysis in patent cases are on the decline and successful outcomes based on the …