Law Commons^™

Ip And Antitrust Policy: A Brief Historical Overview, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The history of IP/antitrust litigation is filled with exaggerated notions of the power conferred by IP rights and imagined threats to competition. The result is that antitrust litigation involving IP practices has seen problems where none existed. To be sure, finding the right balance between maintaining competition and creating incentives to innovate is no easy task. However, the judge in an IP/antitrust case almost never needs to do the balancing, most of which is done in the language of the IP provisions. The role of antitrust tribunals is the much more limited one of ensuring that any alleged threat to …

Intellectual Property/Ownership Issues, Robert Wells

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Authorized Generics: Careful Balance Undone, Beth Understahl

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Unilateral Refusals To License In The Us, Herbert J. Hovenkamp, Mark D. Janis, Mark A. Lemley

All Faculty Scholarship

Most antitrust claims relating to intellectual property involve challenges to agreements, licensing practices or affirmative conduct involving the use or disposition of the intellectual property rights or the products they cover. But sometimes an antitrust claim centers on an intellectual property owner's refusal to use or license an intellectual property right, perhaps coupled with efforts to enforce the intellectual property right against infringers. The allegation may be that the intellectual property right is so essential to competition that it must be licensed across the board, or that a refusal to license it to one particular party was discriminatory, or that …

Originalism, J.E.M., And The Food Supply, Or Will The Real Decision Maker Please Stand Up?, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

In 2001, the United States Supreme Court decided that sexually reproduced plants (which include major crop plants such as corn) are statutorily proper subject matter for utility patents. See J.E.M. Ag Supply, v. Pioneer Hi-Bred Int'l, Inc., 534 U.S. 124 (2001). Since that decision, critics from many disciplines have argued that the world's food supply is at risk from giant agribusinesses' manipulation of utility patents on genetically modified plants and animals. In light of these fears, this paper revisits J.E.M. and then highlights a related, still-open legal problem with biotechnology patents.

Looking backwards to J.E.M., the paper reaches several negative …

What's That Mean? A Proposed Claim Construction Methodology For Phillips V. Awh Corp., Jessica C. Kaiser

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Federal Circuit has granted en banc review in Phillips v. AWH Corp. to decide the appropriate methodology for patent claim construction. This Note examines the different approaches taken by Federal Circuit panels for claim construction: the intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy, holistic approach, and the "dictionary first" approach. This Note tests these approaches against the policies underlying patent law and concludes that both the holistic approach and the "dictionary first" approach fail to adequately further these policies.

Instead, this Note proposes a modified intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy. The proposed approach for claim construction looks first to the intrinsic evidence. If the meaning of the …

Patents, Essential Medicines, And The Innovation Game, David W. Opderbeck

Vanderbilt Law Review

The once dusty arena of international patent law now hosts a life and death contest. Human rights activists claim patents restrict access to essential technologies in the developing world and skew research and development away from global health and welfare problems. Industrialized countries argue that innovation and development require strong patent protection. Both sides agree that much of the world lacks meaningful access to technologies that are basic to a healthy standard of living.

Current international patent rules strike an uneasy balance between these conflicting views about patents. The precarious nature of this balancing act is illustrated by the recent …

Patent Fences And Constitutional Fence Posts: Property Barriers To Pharmaceutical Importation, Daniel R. Cahoy

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Patent Fences And Constitutional Fence Posts: Property Barriers To Pharmaceutical Importation, Daniel R. Cahoy

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Alice In Wonderland Meets The U.S. Patent System, Jay Dratler

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Among the joys of being a professor, as distinguished from practicing law, are the leisure and incentive to think and write about the big picture. Another joy is being able to say what you really think. We professors don't have to focus on attracting clients or maintaining an impression of studied understatement and moderation for judges and juries.

In this talk, I'm going to exercise both of these prerogatives. I've been thinking about the big picture in patents for over a quarter century, and I'm more worried than I've ever been.

Let me begin by making my usual (and truthful) …

Dispute Over The Meaning Of ‘Invention’ In Article 52(2) Epc: The Patentability Of Computer-Implemented Inventions In Europe, Justine Pila

Justine Pila

In 2002, the European Economic and Social Committee (ESC) described the doctrinal premise of the European Patent Office´s interpretation of Art. 52(2) of the European Patent Convention as "the product of legal casuistry". The purpose of the current article is to consider that description, and ask whether it is fair, or whether the EPO´s approach to Art. 52 is better ascribed to problems inherent in the EPC itself. Three issues are addressed to that end. The first is the object of the ESC´s criticism: Art. 52(2) and its interpretation by the EPO´s Boards of Appeal. The second is the context …

Alice In Wonderland Meets The U.S. Patent System, Jay Dratler

Jay Dratler

Among the joys of being a professor, as distinguished from practicing law, are the leisure and incentive to think and write about the big picture. Another joy is being able to say what you really think. We professors don't have to focus on attracting clients or maintaining an impression of studied understatement and moderation for judges and juries. In this talk, I'm going to exercise both of these prerogatives. I've been thinking about the big picture in patents for over a quarter century, and I'm more worried than I've ever been. Let me begin by making my usual (and truthful) …

Defining The Limits Of The Eu Essential Facilities Doctrine On Intellectual Property Rights: The Primacy Of Securing Optimal Innovation, James Turney

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

The End Of Federalism In Telecommunication Regulations?, Douglas C. Sicker

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Trademarks Or Copyrights: Which Intellectual Property Right Affords Its Owner The Greatest Protection Of Architectural Ingenuity?, Rashida Y.V. Macmurray

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Ambush Marketing: The Off-Field Competition At The Olympic Games, Jason K. Schmitz

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property And Genetically Modified Seeds: The United States, Trade, And The Developing World, Haley Stein

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Global Diseases, Global Patents And Differential Treatment In Wto Law: Criteria For Suspending Patent Obligations In Developing Countries, Bradly Condon, Tapen Sinha

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Special and differential treatment of members is a controversial subject at the World Trade Organization ("WTO") and nowhere is the debate more pronounced than in the context of life-saving medicines and patent protection. However, concerns have been raised in WTO negotiations regarding how to ensure that special and differential treatment targets developing countries' trade, financial and development needs, without prejudicing the rights of other WTO members. In the fall of 2003, the WTO adopted a decision to amend the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS") in order to enhance access to essential medicines in developing countries. In …

Patents, Venture Capital, And Software Start-Ups, Ronald J. Mann, Thomas W. Sager

Faculty Scholarship

This paper analyzes the relation between the patenting behavior of startup firms and the progress of those firms through the venture capital cycle. Linking data relating to venture capital financing of software startup firms with data concerning the patents obtained by those firms, we find significant and robust positive correlations between patenting and several variables measuring the firm's performance (including number of rounds, total investment, exit status, receipt of late stage financing, and longevity). The data also show that (1) only about one in four venture-backed software firms acquired even one patent during the period of the study; (2) patenting …

Planting A Standard: Proposing A Broad Reading Of In Re Elsner, Alicia L. Frostick

Michigan Law Review

This Note will show that one can read Elsner broadly to encompass both plant-type and widget-type inventions, and that applying Elsner to both plants and widgets is within the current statutory framework and case law. Such a reading would change the § 102 bar for inventions patentable under § 10i29 (hereinafter referred to as "widgets") as well as for plants. Part I of this Note argues that congressional sources require a flexible test-one that does not prejudice any objects under the Patent Act. Part II discusses the judicial interpretation of the Patent Act prior to Elsner in order to argue …

Do Patents Facilitate Financing In The Software Industry?, Ronald J. Mann

Faculty Scholarship

This Article is the first part of a wide study of the role of intellectual property in the software industry. Unlike previous papers that focus primarily on software patents – which generally are held by firms that are not software firms – this Article provides a thorough and contextually grounded description of the role that patents play in the software industry itself.

The bulk of the Article considers the pros and cons of patents in the software industry. The Article starts by emphasizing the difficulties that prerevenue startups face in obtaining any value from patents. Litigation to enforce patents is …