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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Unreasonableness Of The Patent Office's 'Broadest Reasonable Interpretation' Standard, Christopher A. Cotropia
The Unreasonableness Of The Patent Office's 'Broadest Reasonable Interpretation' Standard, Christopher A. Cotropia
Law Faculty Publications
This article does what is long overdue: it fully explores the validity of the BRI standard. The previously articulated rationales behind the BRI standard are severely lacking. Not only does the BRI standard fail to provide the advantages touted by the courts that created the standard, the standard is contrary to both the patent statutes and the concept of a unitary patent system. It allows examiners to avoid difficult claim interpretation issues; it leads to improper and uncorrectable denials of patent protection; and it is incurably ambiguous. Given that the BRI standard is severely lacking, the courts and the USPTO …
The Individual Inventor Motif In The Age Of The Patent Troll, Christopher A, Cotropia
The Individual Inventor Motif In The Age Of The Patent Troll, Christopher A, Cotropia
Law Faculty Publications
The individual inventor motif has been part of American patent law since its inception. The question is whether the recent patent troll hunt has damaged the individual inventor's image and, in turn, caused Congress, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the courts to become less concerned with patent law's impact on the small inventor. This Article explores whether there has been a change in attitude by looking at various sources from legislative, administrative, and judicial actors in the patent system, such as congressional statements and testimony in discussions of the recent proposed patent reform legislation, the USPTO …
The Folly Of Early Filing In Patent Law, Christopher A. Cotropia
The Folly Of Early Filing In Patent Law, Christopher A. Cotropia
Law Faculty Publications
This Article questions the conventional wisdom that the patent system should continue to encourage "early filing" of patent applications-filing at the beginning stages of technological development. The current thinking regarding early filing fails to account for the lack of technical and market information available about the invention at the early stages of development. A "file early, file often" mentality is instilled in inventors, exacerbating such systemic patent problems as too many patent applications, too many patents, underdevelopment of patented technology, increased assertion of patent rights, and fuzzy patent boundaries, to name a few. The Article suggests that in response patent …