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Patents As Signals Of Quality In Crowdfunding, Christopher A. Cotropia
Patents As Signals Of Quality In Crowdfunding, Christopher A. Cotropia
Law Faculty Publications
Patents and crowdfunding both attempt to foster early stage innova-tions. In theory, patents signal quality and value to attract investment and buyers and ultimately facilitate commercialization. Crowdfunding allows multiple individuals to make small contributions to finance start-up ven-tures. This Article reports on two related studies investigating the interac-tion between these two innovation tools by determining the impact of a crowdfunding campaign’s patent status on the campaign’s success and de-livery. The first study examines 9,184 Kickstarter campaigns in patent-eli-gible categories to determine whether patented or patent-pending labeled projects are more likely to reach their funding goal and in turn achieve actual, …
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter... Still Wielding The Wrong Weapon - 12 Years Later, Kristen Osenga
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter... Still Wielding The Wrong Weapon - 12 Years Later, Kristen Osenga
Law Faculty Publications
I am delighted to have participated in the Second Annual Intellectual Property Redux Conference and to publish this essay. I rarely look back at my older articles, but in Fall 2018 I was asked to give a keynote address at a conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), where the organizers asked me to speak about 35 U.S.C. § 101 and patent-eligible subject matter. In preparing my remarks, I had the opportunity to refer back to one of my earliest scholarly pieces—a 2007 article entitled Ants, Elephant Guns, and Statutory Subject Matter, published in the Arizona State Law Journal.1 …
The Hidden Value Of Abandoned Applications To The Patent System, Christopher A. Cotropia, David L. Schwartz
The Hidden Value Of Abandoned Applications To The Patent System, Christopher A. Cotropia, David L. Schwartz
Law Faculty Publications
Some inventors abandon their patent applications without ever receiving a patent. Although patent scholars view such abandoned patent applications as essentially worthless, we question that conventional wisdom. Conducting an empirical analysis of a recently released patent application dataset in light of a 1999 change that requires publication of most abandoned applications, we find that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) often uses abandoned applications as “prior art” when examining future patent applications. Abandoned applications thus generate an “administrative disclosure” that prevents the issuance of broader patent rights to later applicants. By narrowing the scope of new patents, abandoned …
The Hidden Value Of Abandoned Applications To The Patent System, Christopher A. Cotropia, David L. Schwartz
The Hidden Value Of Abandoned Applications To The Patent System, Christopher A. Cotropia, David L. Schwartz
Law Faculty Publications
Some inventors abandon their patent applications without ever receiving a patent. Although patent scholars view such abandoned applications as essentially worthless, we question that conventional wisdom. In conducting an empirical analysis of a recently released patent application dataset (in light of a 1999 change requiring publication of most abandoned applications), we find that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) often uses abandoned applications as prior art when examining future patent applications. Abandoned applications thus generate an administrative disclosure that prevents the issuance of broader patent rights to later applicants. By narrowing the scope of new patents, abandoned applications …
Ignorance Over Innovation: Why Misunderstanding Standard Setting Organizations Will Hinder Technological Progress, Kristen Osenga
Ignorance Over Innovation: Why Misunderstanding Standard Setting Organizations Will Hinder Technological Progress, Kristen Osenga
Law Faculty Publications
On January 17, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Qualcomm Inc. in federal district court, alleging antitrust violations in the company's licensing of semiconductor chips used in cell phones and more. The suit alleges, in part, that Qualcomm refuses to license its patents that cover innovations incorporated in technology standards (standard-essential patents, or SEPs), in contradiction of the company's promise to license this intellectual property on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms. According to the FTC, Qualcomm's behavior reduces competitors' ability to participate in the market, raises prices paid by consumers for products incorporating the standardized technology, and at …
Heterogeneity Among Patent Plaintiffs: An Empirical Analysis Of Patent Case Progression, Settlement, And Adjudication, Christopher A. Cotropia
Heterogeneity Among Patent Plaintiffs: An Empirical Analysis Of Patent Case Progression, Settlement, And Adjudication, Christopher A. Cotropia
Law Faculty Publications
This article empirically studies current claims that patent trolls, also known as patent assertion entities (PAEs) or non-practicing entities (NPEs), behave badly in litigation by bringing frivolous patent infringement suits and seeking nuisance fee settlements. The study explores these claims by examining the relationship between the type of patenteeplaintiffs and litigation outcomes (e.g., settlement, grant of summary judgment, trial, and procedural dispositions), while taking into account, among other factors, the technology of the patents being asserted and the identity of the lawyers and judges. The study finds significant heterogeneity among different patent holder entity types. Individual inventors, failed operating companies, …
What Happened To The Public’S Interest In Patent Law?, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
What Happened To The Public’S Interest In Patent Law?, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
Law Faculty Publications
Protecting intellectual property is the government’s most important tool to encourage innovation, as our country has understood since its founding. The Constitution provides for the grant of exclusive patent rights to “promote the progress of science and the useful arts.” Thomas Jefferson, who was initially skeptical of the value of patents, later remarked, “An Act of Congress authorising [sic] the issuing patents for new discoveries has given a spring to invention beyond my conception.” From the very first patent, issued in 1790, to the 10 millionth patent, issued in June 2018,4 the United States has seen remarkable amounts of invention …
What Is The "Invention"?, Christopher A. Cotropia
What Is The "Invention"?, Christopher A. Cotropia
Law Faculty Publications
Patent law is in flux, with recent disputes and changes in doctrine fueled by increased attention from the Supreme Court and en banc activity by the Federal Circuit. The natural reaction is to analyze each doctrinal area involved on its own. Upon a closer look, however, many patent cases concern a single, fundamental dispute. Conflicts in opinions on such issues as claim interpretation methodology and the written description requirement are really disagreements over which "invention" the courts should be considering. There are two concepts of invention currently in play in patent decisions. The first is an "external invention" definition, in …
Describing Patents As Real Options, Christopher A. Cotropia
Describing Patents As Real Options, Christopher A. Cotropia
Law Faculty Publications
This Article continues the use of real options in patent law by taking a step back. The Article proceeds in three parts. Part II describes the concept of real options and catalogs the existing economics and law literature discussing patents as real options. The Article then lays a foundation for previous and future discussions by describing in detail how patents are like real options. Specifically, Part III. identifies the particular patent doctrines that make up the common components of a real option-the option price, the exercise price, the expiration date, and the value of the underlying asset. This descriptive analysis …
Ants, Elephant Guns, And Statutory Subject Matter, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
Ants, Elephant Guns, And Statutory Subject Matter, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
Law Faculty Publications
Questions about whether software qualifies for patent protection are becoming increasingly more prevalent, despite the fact the issue seemed settled. The Supreme Court has indicated its interest in the topic and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office-which had previously been liberally issuing patents in the computer-related arts-now appears to be leading the groundswell against the subject-matter eligibility of these inventions, rejecting an increasing number of applications in this area for lack of statutory subject matter. Despite the broad definitions of patentable subject matter provided by the Constitution, Patent Act, and Supreme Court, the Patent Office has grafted various additional requirements …
Rembrandts In The Research Lab: Why Universities Should Take A Lesson From Big Business To Increase Innovation, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
Rembrandts In The Research Lab: Why Universities Should Take A Lesson From Big Business To Increase Innovation, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
Law Faculty Publications
In this Article, I argue that patents, if obtained and exploited strategically, can have a beneficial effect on university research. I will describe the barriers to university participation in the patent arena-that is, lack of money, lack of knowledge, lack of infrastructure, and cultural concerns-and explain, with reference to business, how and why universities need to overcome these barriers. By breaking down these barriers and ably exploiting their intellectual property, I argue that the obstacles to university research will be lessened, resulting in increased research and innovation. I further provide a primer to provide university administrators, technology transfer offices, and …
Patent Law Viewed Through An Evidentiary Lens: The "Suggestion Test" As A Rule Of Evidence, Christopher A. Cotropia
Patent Law Viewed Through An Evidentiary Lens: The "Suggestion Test" As A Rule Of Evidence, Christopher A. Cotropia
Law Faculty Publications
The Federal Circuit's recent nonobviousness jurisprudence has been the subject of much criticism. Reports from the Federal Trade Commission and the National Research Council and a pending petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court all conclude that the Federal Circuit has improperly relaxed the nonobviousness standard. Most of this criticism focuses on the Federal Circuit's implementation of part of the nonobviousness inquiry - the suggestion test. The suggestion test queries whether a suggestion to make the invention existed before the invention's creation. The Federal Circuit allegedly requires a suggestion to come solely from prior art references. The court ignores other …
Rethinking Reexamination Reform: Is It Time For Corrective Surgery, Or Is It Time To Amputate?, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
Rethinking Reexamination Reform: Is It Time For Corrective Surgery, Or Is It Time To Amputate?, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
Law Faculty Publications
Reexamination was introduced as a mechanism for curing potentially invalid patents, as an antidote to the public's and the judiciary's lack of confidence in the PTO and the patent system in general. Instead of a curative fix, however, the reexamination provisions are more akin to a diseased or lame leg on the body of U.S. patent law. Reexamination fails to support the burden of public confidence it was intended to carry. It does not act in harmony with other limbs on the body of patent law or with other bodies of U.S. or foreign law. Over the years, Congress has …