Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Institution
-
- American University Washington College of Law (3)
- Boston University School of Law (3)
- George Washington University Law School (2)
- The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law (2)
- The University of Akron (2)
-
- Chicago-Kent College of Law (1)
- Columbia Law School (1)
- Maurer School of Law: Indiana University (1)
- Mitchell Hamline School of Law (1)
- Santa Clara Law (1)
- Suffolk University (1)
- Texas A&M University School of Law (1)
- University of Georgia School of Law (1)
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School of Law (1)
- University of New Hampshire (1)
- University of North Carolina School of Law (1)
Articles 1 - 23 of 23
Full-Text Articles in Law
What's A Name Worth?: Experimental Tests Of The Value Of Attribution In Intellectual Property, Christopher J. Buccafusco, Christopher Jon Sprigman, Zachary C. Burns
What's A Name Worth?: Experimental Tests Of The Value Of Attribution In Intellectual Property, Christopher J. Buccafusco, Christopher Jon Sprigman, Zachary C. Burns
All Faculty Scholarship
Despite considerable research suggesting that creators value attribution – i.e., being named as the creator of a work – U.S. intellectual property (IP) law does not provide a right to attribution to the vast majority of creators. On the other side of the Atlantic, however, many European countries give creators, at least in their copyright laws, much stronger rights to attribution. At first blush it may seem that the U.S. has gotten it wrong, and the Europeans have made a better policy choice in providing to creators a right that they value. But for reasons we will explain in this …
Rethinking Rand: Sdo-Based Approaches To Patent Licensing Commitments, Jorge Contreras
Rethinking Rand: Sdo-Based Approaches To Patent Licensing Commitments, Jorge Contreras
Working Papers
So-called “reasonable and nondiscriminatory” (RAND) licensing commitments have been utilized by standards-development organizations (SDOs) for years in an attempt to alleviate the risk of patent hold-up in standard-setting. These commitments, however, have proven to be vague and offer few assurances to product vendors or patent holders. A recent surge of international litigation concerning RAND commitments has brought this issue to the attention of regulators, industry and the public, and many agree that a better approach is needed. In this paper, I identify seven “first principles” that underlie the licensing and enforcement of standards-essential patents (SEP)s. These can be summarized as …
The Private Costs Of Patent Litigation, James Bessen, Michael J. Meurer
The Private Costs Of Patent Litigation, James Bessen, Michael J. Meurer
Faculty Scholarship
This paper estimates the total cost of patent litigation to alleged infringers. We use a large sample of stock market event studies around the date of lawsuit filings for US public firms from 1984-99. We find that the total costs of litigation are much greater than legal fees and costs are large even for lawsuits that settle. Lawsuits cost alleged infringers about $28.7 million ($92) in the mean and $2.9 million in the median. Moreover, infringement risk rose sharply during the late 1990s to over 14% of R&D spending. Small firms have lower risk relative to R&D.
Not So Obvious After All: Patent Law's Nonobviousness Requirement, Ksr, And The Fear Of Hindsight Bias, Glynn S. Lunney Jr, Christian T. Johnson
Not So Obvious After All: Patent Law's Nonobviousness Requirement, Ksr, And The Fear Of Hindsight Bias, Glynn S. Lunney Jr, Christian T. Johnson
Faculty Scholarship
Before the creation of the Federal Circuit in 1982, nonobviousness served as the primary gatekeeper for patents. When patent holders sued for infringement and lost, more than sixty percent of the time, they lost on the grounds that their patent was obvious. With the advent of the Federal Circuit, nonobviousness became a much less difficult hurdle to surmount. From 1982 until 2005, when patent holders sued for infringement and lost, obviousness was the reason in less than fifteen percent of the cases. While obviousness remained formally a requirement of patent protection, there can be little doubt that the Federal Circuit …
Best Mode Trade Secrets, Brian J. Love
Best Mode Trade Secrets, Brian J. Love
Faculty Publications
Trade secrecy and patent rights traditionally have been considered mutually exclusive. Trade secret rights are premised on secrecy. Patent rights, on the other hand, require public disclosure. Absent a sufficiently detailed description of the invention, patents are invalid. However, with the passage of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“AIA”) last fall, this once black-and-white distinction may melt into something a little more gray. Now, an inventor’s failure to disclose in her patent the preferred method for carrying out the invention — the so-called “best mode” — will no longer invalidate her patent rights or otherwise render them unenforceable.
In this …
The Ontological Function Of The Patent Document, Andrew Chin
The Ontological Function Of The Patent Document, Andrew Chin
Faculty Publications
With the passage and impending implementation of the “first-to-file” provisions of the America Invents Act of 2011, the U.S. patent system must rely more than ever before on patent documents for its own ontological commitments concerning the existence of claimed kinds of useful objects and processes. This Article provides a comprehensive description of the previously unrecognized function of the patent document in incurring and securing warrants to these ontological commitments, and the respective roles of legal doctrines and practices in the patent system’s ontological project. Among other contributions, the resulting metaphysical account serves to reconcile competing interpretations of the written …
Standards And Related Intellectual Property Issues For Climate Change Technology, Jorge Contreras
Standards And Related Intellectual Property Issues For Climate Change Technology, Jorge Contreras
Working Papers
Almost every product sold today must conform to standards, whether relating to its design, manufacture, operation, testing, safety, sale or disposal, and sometimes to many of these at once. At their root, standards are no more than written requirements or design features of a product, service or other activity. They can be breathtakingly detailed or disarmingly general, ranging from thousands of pages in length to just a few sentences. Standards are set by a wide range of bodies, from governmental agencies to industry consortia to multinational treaty organizations. Some standards are adopted into local, state or federal legislation and attain …
Patent Reform And Best Mode: A Signal To The Patent Office Or A Step Toward Elimination?, Ryan G. Vacca
Patent Reform And Best Mode: A Signal To The Patent Office Or A Step Toward Elimination?, Ryan G. Vacca
Akron Law Faculty Publications
On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the America Invents Act (AIA), the first major overhaul of the patent system in nearly sixty years. This article analyzes the recent change to patent law's best mode requirement under the AIA. Before the AIA, patent applicants were required, at the time of submitting their application, to disclose the best mode of carrying out the invention as contemplated by the inventor. A failure to disclose the best mode was a basis for a finding of invalidity of the relevant claims or could render the entire patent unenforceable under the doctrine of inequitable conduct. …
Standards, Patents, And The National Smart Grid, Jorge Contreras
Standards, Patents, And The National Smart Grid, Jorge Contreras
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is charged with overseeing the identification and selection of hundreds of standards that will be required to implement the national Smart Grid project. However, the benefits that could be realized from Smart Grid standardization could be threatened by a growing number of patents that cover Smart Grid architecture and technologies. If such patents are not revealed until technology is broadly distributed throughout the network (“locked-in”), significant disruption could occur when patent holders seek to collect unanticipated rents from large segments of the market. Moreover, even if patents are revealed early in the …
Patent Attorney Malpractice: Case-Within-A-Case-Within-A-Case, Samuel Oddi
Patent Attorney Malpractice: Case-Within-A-Case-Within-A-Case, Samuel Oddi
Akron Law Faculty Publications
As literary devices, a “story-within-a story” and a “play-within-a-play” have a long lineage. Shakespeare seems to have been particularly fond of these devices. The legal analog may be seen as the “case-within-a-case” (“trial-within-a-trial,” “suit-within-a-suit”) arising in legal malpractice cases. The case-within-a-case terminology seems to be the most commonly used and hence will be used herein. While it is clear that the “case” is the malpractice case, it is not so clear what the “case-within-” is, which is usually referred to as the “underlying case.” Often, it seems to be presumed that the underlying case is limited to litigation, which would …
Top Tens In 2011: Patent, Trademark, Copyright And Trade Secret Cases, Stephen M. Mcjohn
Top Tens In 2011: Patent, Trademark, Copyright And Trade Secret Cases, Stephen M. Mcjohn
Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works
This paper discusses notable intellectual property law cases in the United States in 2011. Patent cases addressed such issues as the scope of patent subject matter (the patentability of human genes and methods for testing for genetic links to cancer), the standards for challenges to the validity of patents (such as where technology that was not considered by the patent office is put in evidence), and the breadth of patent protection (especially with respect to the scope of protection for software patents). Other cases tested the borders of trademark protection – distinctiveness, functionality, and the interplay between trademark law and …
Usefulness Varies By Country: The Utility Requirement Of Patent Law In The United States, Europe And Canada, Jay Erstling, Amy M. Salmela, Justin N. Woo
Usefulness Varies By Country: The Utility Requirement Of Patent Law In The United States, Europe And Canada, Jay Erstling, Amy M. Salmela, Justin N. Woo
Faculty Scholarship
The requirement that an invention have utility is one of the most fundamental of the patent laws. In the United States, for example, the concept of utility is rooted in the Constitution: Article 1, Section 8, gives Congress the power to grant exclusive rights to inventors in order “[t]o promote the progress of Science and useful Arts.” Other jurisdictions recognize utility in the form of inventions that have “industrial applicability” or are “capable of exploitation in industry,” with all of these terms and phrases generally viewed as being synonymous.
Historically, nearly every jurisdiction has excluded some type of invention from …
The Technological Edge, Elizabeth I. Winston
The Technological Edge, Elizabeth I. Winston
Scholarly Articles
To grant a patent to natural phenomena hinders innovation, taking back from the public that which the public has a right to possess. To deny a patent to man’s manufacture undercuts the fundamental bargain of the patent system. All inventions, at their core, may be deemed natural, rendering it difficult to distinguish between man’s manufacture and natural phenomena. Determining whether the innovative aspect of the product is a technological one, rather than a natural one, can clarify whether the patent grant promotes the progress of science and the useful arts. The higher the level of skill in the art required …
Patent Law As Public Law, Megan M. La Belle
Patent Law As Public Law, Megan M. La Belle
Scholarly Articles
Historically, patent litigation has been viewed and treated primarily as private law litigation, as opposed to public law litigation. This paradigm has begun to shift, however, as various stakeholders have come to acknowledge the profound impact that the patent system – and particularly invalid patents – have on the public at large. Yet, in order for a public law regime to succeed, there must be a host of enforcement mechanisms available, including the opportunity for privately-initiated litigation.
Public interest organizations have played a prominent role in the enforcement of certain public rights, such as free speech, equal protection, and environmental …
A New Look At Patent Quality: Relating Patent Prosecution To Validity, Ronald J. Mann, Marian Underweiser
A New Look At Patent Quality: Relating Patent Prosecution To Validity, Ronald J. Mann, Marian Underweiser
Faculty Scholarship
The article uses two hand‐collected data sets to implement a novel research design for analyzing the precursors to patent quality. Operationalizing patent “quality” as legal validity, the article analyzes the relation between Federal Circuit decisions on patent validity and three sets of data about the patents: quantitative features of the patents themselves, textual analysis of the patent documents, and data collected from the prosecution histories of the patents. The article finds large and statistically significant relations between ex post validity and both textual features of the patents and ex ante aspects of the prosecution history (especially prior art submissions and …
Patent Reform And Best Mode: A Signal To The Patent Office Or A Step Toward Elimination?, Ryan G. Vacca
Patent Reform And Best Mode: A Signal To The Patent Office Or A Step Toward Elimination?, Ryan G. Vacca
Law Faculty Scholarship
On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the America Invents Act (AIA), the first major overhaul of the patent system in nearly sixty years. This article analyzes the recent change to patent law's best mode requirement under the AIA. Before the AIA, patent applicants were required, at the time of submitting their application, to disclose the best mode of carrying out the invention as contemplated by the inventor. A failure to disclose the best mode was a basis for a finding of invalidity of the relevant claims or could render the entire patent unenforceable under the doctrine of inequitable conduct. …
Forward To Festschrift Honoring Chief Judge Rader, Martin J. Adelman
Forward To Festschrift Honoring Chief Judge Rader, Martin J. Adelman
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This Forward discusses papers that highlight the judicial work of Chief Judge Rader in the field of patent law.
The Private And Social Costs Of Patent Trolls, Michael J. Meurer, James Bessen, Jennifer Ford
The Private And Social Costs Of Patent Trolls, Michael J. Meurer, James Bessen, Jennifer Ford
Faculty Scholarship
The emergence of nonpracticing entities (NPEs) — firms that purchase and hold patent rights but neither innovate themselves nor use the patents in the production of goods — is supposed to incentivize innovation by providing a ready market for innovators. We test this idea empirically and find that NPEs produce little returns for innovators or for their own shareholders, but they place significant costs on productive firms that violate patents inadvertently. Indeed, it appears that NPEs — often disparagingly called “patent trolls” — discourage productive firms from innovating for fear that they will then be subject to a patent troll …
Gat, Solvay, And The Centralization Of Patent Litigation In Europe, Marketa Trimble
Gat, Solvay, And The Centralization Of Patent Litigation In Europe, Marketa Trimble
Scholarly Works
No abstract provided.
Scaling The Patent System, Christina Mulligan, Timothy B. Lee
Scaling The Patent System, Christina Mulligan, Timothy B. Lee
Scholarly Works
Why do firms in some industries ignore patents when developing new products? This paper posits a simple but novel answer to this long-puzzling question: firms ignore patents because they are unable to discover the patents their activities might infringe. The costs of finding relevant patents, which we call discovery costs, are prohibitively high.
Not all industries face high patent discovery costs. Chemical patents are "indexable," meaning that relevant patents can be efficiently retrieved by chemical formula. As a result, discovery costs in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries are low, and inadvertent infringement by firms in these industries is rare. But …
The America Invents Act, Its Unique First-To-File System And Its Transfer Of Power From Juries To The United States Patent And Trademark Office, Martin J. Adelman
The America Invents Act, Its Unique First-To-File System And Its Transfer Of Power From Juries To The United States Patent And Trademark Office, Martin J. Adelman
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The signing of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) by President Obama on 16 September 2011 is a landmark event in the history of American patent law. It has already been the subject of numerous articles on the web and in the law reviews as well as in the popular press. I have no intention here of going into all the details of the AIA, I just want to leave the reader with a sense for its eventual impact on American patent law. All the details are to be found in its 37 sections whose titles give the reader a …
The New Federal Circuit Mandamus, Paul Gugliuzza
The New Federal Circuit Mandamus, Paul Gugliuzza
Faculty Scholarship
This Article explores an ongoing revolution in the mandamus jurisprudence of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the court of appeals with nearly exclusive jurisdiction over patent cases. Before December 2008, the Federal Circuit had never used the interlocutory writ of mandamus to order a district court to transfer a case to a more convenient forum, denying each one of the twenty-two petitions it had decided on that issue. Since that time, however, the court has overturned eleven different venue decisions on mandamus. Remarkably, ten of those eleven cases have come from the same district court, the …
Communities Of Innovation, Michael Mattioli
Communities Of Innovation, Michael Mattioli
Articles by Maurer Faculty
This Article examines and evaluates the theory that patent holders privately self-correct the government’s excessive apportionment of patent rights by means of various cooperative efforts including patent pools, research consortia, and similar licensing collectives. According to some experts, these efforts are proof that market participants have the wisdom and the will to collectively disarm their patent arsenals in order to advance long-term innovation. But until now, this theory of market self-correction has not been evaluated through empirical study. Drawing on interviews and original research, this Article provides an ethnographic view of collective patent licensing episodes. Amidst these stories of success …