Law Commons^™

Markets In Ip And Antitrust, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of market definition in antitrust law is to identify a grouping of sales such that a single firm who controlled them could maintain prices for a significant time at above the competitive level. The conceptions and procedures that go into “market definition” in antitrust can be quite different from those that go into market definition in IP law. When the issue of market definition appears in IP cases, it is mainly as a query about the range over which rivalry occurs. This rivalry may or may not have much to do with a firm’s ability to charge a …

Patents As Escalators, Amelia Smith Rinehart

Amelia Smith Rinehart

High technology companies commit time, effort and resources to innovation. Over the course of a research and development project, an innovative company may face several sequential decisions regarding whether to continue to invest in the project and whether to commercialize the discoveries that have been made. Companies often seek patents early in the research and development process to receive the right to exclude others from practicing the invention. Given a current trend toward earlier and earlier patent filing, it has been suggested that this strategy could leave many inventions underdeveloped as companies treat patents like real options, deciding later, as …

Primitive Accumulation And Enclosure Of The Commons: Genetically Engineered Seeds And Canadian Jurisprudence, Wilhelm Peekhaus

Wilhelm Peekhaus

This paper juxtaposes the legal decisions made in the case of Percy Schmeiser, who was sued by Monsanto for patent infringement, against the attempt by the Organic Agriculture Protection Fund to obtain class certification in its efforts to sue Monsanto and Bayer for genetic contamination of organic canola. Together these two cases establish an unacceptable incongruity at common law between the rights enjoyed by intellectual property owners and any corresponding duties that might attach to their inventions. I suggest that Marx’s concept of primitive accumulation offers a suitable theoretical register for apprehending contemporary erosions of the commons through the enclosure …

Patently Impossible, Sean B. Seymore

Vanderbilt Law Review

The quest to achieve the impossible fuels creativity, spawns new fields of inquiry, illuminates old ones, and extends the frontiers of knowledge. It is difficult, however, to obtain a patent for an invention which seems impossible, incredible, or conflicts with well- established scientific principles. The principal patentability hurdle is operability, which an inventor cannot overcome if there is reason to doubt that the invention can really achieve the intended result. Despite its laudable gatekeeping role, this Article identifies two problems with the law of operability. First, though objective in theory, the operability analysis rests on subjective credibility assessments. These credibility …

The Changing Damages Regime: Reasonable Royalties After Lucent And Willful Infringement And Enhanced Damages After Seagate, Christopher B. Seaman

Christopher B. Seaman

No abstract provided.

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 …

The Giants Among Us, Robin Feldman, Thomas Ewing

Robin C Feldman

The patent world is undergoing a change of seismic proportions. A small number of entities have quietly amassed vast treasuries of patents. These are not the typical patent trolls that we have come to expect. Rather, these entities have participants such Apple, Google, Microsoft, Sony, the World Bank, and non-profit institutions. The largest and most secretive of these has accumulated a staggering 30,000-60,000 patents.

Investing thousands of hours of research and using publicly available sources, we pieced together a detailed picture of these giants and their activities. We consider the potential positive effects, including facilitating rewards for forgotten inventors, creating …

Did Learned Hand Get It Wrong?: The Questionable Patent Forfeiture Rule Of Metallizing Engineering Co. V. Kenyon Bearing & Auto Parts Co., Dmitry Karshtedt

Dmitry Karshtedt

As Congress stands on the verge of passing patent reform legislation that will grant patent priority to those who are first to file rather than first to invent, an old chestnut of a case penned by Judge Learned Hand some 65 years ago has attracted the attention of lawmakers and commentators. The case of Metallizing Engineering Co. v. Kenyon Bearing & Auto Parts Co. dealt with the thorny problem of granting patents those who have, for some time before patenting, practiced their inventions in secret. The Second Circuit held that one who competitively exploits a secret invention at a time …

Res Or Rules? Patents And The (Uncertain) Rules Of The Game, Emily Michiko Morris

Emily Michiko Morris

RES OR RULES? PATENTS AND THE (UNCERTAIN) RULES OF THE GAME

Emily Michiko Morris

ABSTRACT

The stakes at play in modern-day patent infringement suits can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Just take a look at the $612.5 million that Research In Motion, Ltd., paid to settle NTP, Inc.’s patent infringement suit against it. How could RIM have made such an expensive mistake? After all, patents are public records, so ideally patent infringers should simply do their homework and avoid such massive liability. In reality there are a multitude of reasons why some technology companies find themselves infringing others’ …

A Generation Of Software Patents, James Bessen

James Bessen

This study examines changes in the patenting behavior of the software industry since the 1990s. It finds that most software firms still do not patent, most software patents are obtained by a few large firms in the software industry or in other industries, and the risk of litigation from software patents continues to increase dramatically. Given these findings, it is hard to conclude that software patents have provided a net social benefit in the software industry.

Patents, Presumptions, And Public Notice, Timothy R. Holbrook

Indiana Law Journal

Patents are peculiar legal instruments in that they contain both technical and legal information. This Janus-like nature of the documents is important because they serve the legal purpose of affording the owner the right to exclude others from practicing the invention, and third parties need to be able to assess the scope of that right. At the same time, through the patent’s disclosure, the document is intended to contribute to the storehouse of technical knowledge. Superficially, patents are generally viewed through the eyes of the hypothetical person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA), patent law’s “reasonable person.” Unfortunately, the …

Markedly Low: An Argument To Raise The Burden Of Proof For Patent False Marking, Caroline Ayres Teichner

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Federal Circuit's liberal treatment of the patent false-marking statute, 35 U.S.C. § 292, has created a climate in which opportunistic qui tam plaintiffs facing a low burden of proof can recover potentially enormous sums of money under the statute with no showing of competitive injury. This note argues that the Federal Circuit erred by ruling that plaintiffs must prove the key element of false-marking claims—namely, intent to deceive the public—by a mere preponderance of the evidence, and further contends that the court should have adopted the clear and convincing standard instead. Support for this elevated burden of proof can …

Secret Prior Art: Does Prior Art In A Provisional Patent Application Bar Future Patents, Kyle Gottuso

Missouri Law Review

This Note will examine whether prior art found in a provisional patent application can (and should) act as prior art to defeat a subsequent application by a second inventor. In looking at this issue, this Note will ask if Giacomini can be reconciled with the principles and policies that underlie patent law. To do so, this Note will first review the facts and holding of Giacomini. Then this Note will survey the patent statutes, giving particular attention to those statutes that deal with priority and prior art. Next, this Note will examine the reasoning of the Giacomini court. Finally, this …

Whose Body Is It Anyway? Human Cells And The Strange Effects Of Property And Intellectual Property Law, Robin C. Feldman

Robin C Feldman

A Comparative Perspective On The Patent Eligibility Of Software Inventions, Hung-San Kuo

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

Computer software is considered similar to an algorithm, a mental activity, or an abstract idea, so whether or not it meets patent eligibility is full of controversy. Although computer software products are sold all over the world, each jurisdiction deals with them differently based on individual regulations. If there were an objective and proper way to deal with this subject matter, it would reduce the number of debates and narrow the gap of patent protection among different jurisdictions.

The meaning of "invention" in patent law in each jurisdiction is the most important factor affecting the determination of patent eligibility, which …

Bilski V. Kappos: Everything Old Is New Again, Joe Miller

Scholarly Works

My goal in this brief Essay is to introduce the symposium papers by describing the basics of the Bilski case. I also offer a brief thought about where interested observers might turn next in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's § 101 jurisprudence for insights about how that court may implement Bilski's unmistakable revival of Benson and Fook. Specifically, now that the 15-year Alappat/State Street misadventure, with its patent-maximizing "useful, concrete, and tangible result" standard, has come to an end, it is time to revisit the reasoning and results in a rich trove of cases from the …

The Patentability Of Financial Methods: The Market Participants’ Perspectives, Stefania Fusco

Stefania Fusco

In the last few years, there has been a renewed interest in the validity of patenting business methods. The issue appeared to be settled in 1998 with the State Street decision. However in 2008, the Federal Circuit, responding to a more restrictive approach toward the patent system adopted by the Supreme Court, began questioning the soundness of the policy to extend patent protection to business methods.

The Federal Circuit’s adaptation of its position occurred explicitly in In re Bilski when the court decided to rehear the case en banc and reconsider the conclusions previously reached in State Street. The Supreme …

Recent Developments In Intellectual Property Law In Nigeria, Ufuoma Barbara Akpotaire

Ufuoma Barbara Akpotaire

Key Point – This article provides an overview of the developments in the field of Intellectual Property (IP) in Nigeria and highlights key issues in 10 recent judgments on IP Law in Nigeria. The cases are organized thematically according to the type of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) protected under the Nigerian legal system such as trademarks, copyrights, patents, and designs. The decision to pen this Article is borne out of a conversation with a colleague in New York, who seemed surprised to learn that I had worked as an IP lawyer in Nigeria. My colleague was aware of the existence …

An Economic Analysis Of Patent Law's Inequitable Conduct Doctrine, Thomas F. Cotter

Thomas F. Cotter

In recent years, patent law’s inequitable conduct doctrine has attracted considerable attention from judges, legislators, patent lawyers and commentators, culminating most recently in the Federal Circuit’s decision to reconsider en banc several aspects of the doctrine in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co. Building on the work of other scholars, this Article proposes an instrumental view of the doctrine as, ideally, a tool for inducing patent applicants to disclose the optimal quantity of information relating to the patentability of their inventions; it then presents a formal model of the applicant’s choices in deciding how much information to reveal. The …

Book Review: Gene Patents And Collaborative Licensing Models: Patent Pools, Clearinghouses, Open Source Models And Liability Regimes (Ed. Geertrui Van Overwalle), Jonas Anderson

Book Reviews

A review of Gene Patents and Collaborative Licensing Models: Patent Pools, Clearinghouses, Open Source Models and Liability Regimes.

Partial Patents, Michael Mattioli, Gideon Parchomovsky

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this Article, we propose a way to improve the workings of the patent system. Unlike most extant reform proposals that focus on the USPTO and the Federal Circuit and the procedures they employ, our proposal is conceptual in nature. We introduce two new intellectual property forms—“quasi-patents” and “semi-patents.” Quasi-patents, as we define them, would avail only against direct business competitors of the inventor, but not against anyone else. Semi-patents would have the same scope as traditional patents, but their grant would be conditioned on an applicant’s consent to publish all research information pertaining to the protected invention. These two …

Book Review: Gene Patents And Collaborative Licensing Models: Patent Pools, Clearinghouses, Open Source Models And Liability Regimes (Ed. Geertrui Van Overwalle), Jonas Anderson

J. Jonas Anderson

An Economic Analysis Of Patent Law's Inequitable Conduct Doctrine, Thomas F. Cotter

Thomas F. Cotter

In recent years, patent law’s inequitable conduct doctrine has attracted considerable attention from judges, legislators, patent lawyers and commentators, culminating most recently in the Federal Circuit’s decision to reconsider en banc several aspects of the doctrine in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co. Building on the work of other scholars, this Article proposes an instrumental view of the doctrine as, ideally, a tool for inducing patent applicants to disclose the optimal quantity of information relating to the patentability of their inventions; it then presents a formal model of the applicant’s choices in deciding how much information to reveal. The …

The Accession Insight And Patent Infringement Remedies, Peter Lee

Peter Lee

How should property rights be allocated 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 merely highlights 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 on accession—a physical property doctrine with roots in Roman civil …

Antitrust And Patent Law Analysis Of Pharmaceutical Reverse Payment Settlements, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Patent settlements in which the patentee pays the alleged infringer to stay out of the market are largely a consequence of the Hatch-Waxman Act, which was designed to facilitate the entry of generic drugs by providing the first generic producer to challenge a pioneer drug patent with a 180 day period of exclusivity. This period can be extended by a settlement even if the generic is not producing, and in any event all subsequent generic firms are denied the 180 day exclusivity period, significantly reducing their incentive to enter.

The Circuit Courts of Appeal are split three ways over such …

Special 301 Of The Trade Act Of 1974 And Global Access To Medicine, Sean M. Flynn

Sean Flynn

Since its inception in 1988, the United States Trade Representative’s “Special 301” adjudication of foreign intellectual property law standards has been used to promote policies restricting access to affordable medications around the world. President-elect Obama released a platform promising to “break the stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on these life-saving drugs” and pledged support for “the rights of sovereign nations to access quality-assured, low-cost generic medication to meet their pressing public health needs.” The 2009 and 2010 Special 301 reports, however, indicate that the Obama Administration has not yet implemented this pledge into administration trade …

The Use And Abuse Of Patent Reexamination: Sham Petitioning Before The Uspto, Raymond A. Mercado

Raymond A Mercado

This article investigates the susceptibility of the patent reexamination process to abuse and argues that “sham petitioning” in the reexamination context threatens to undermine the quid pro quo of the patent system, jeopardizing the objectives of innovation and disclosure by weakening the incentive of the patent right. Since reexamination casts a cloud on the validity of a patent and harms enforceability, the patent holder subject to such a proceeding instigated under false pretenses can be deprived of the economic benefits his patent should otherwise have afforded him. To say nothing of the possibility that any fraud on the part of …

The Future Of The European Requirement For An Invention: Inherent Patentability As A Pre- And Post-Patent Determinant, Justine Pila

Justine Pila

The purpose of this chapter is to develop the reflections contained in the conclusion of a recent book (The Requirement for an Invention in Patent Law (Oxford: OUP, 2010)). Specifically, it is to propose a method for applying the requirement for an invention under Article 52(1) of the EPC, including a definition of the invention itself. I argue that while the proposal does not solve all definitional and methodological issues regarding that requirement, it is nonetheless justified on four central grounds. First, it reorients the European patent system around its central aim of supporting industrial growth. Second, it explains much …

Intellectual Property As An ‘Investment’ In International Law: A Question Of Access To Medicines Vs Access To Justice, Christopher Wadlow

Christopher Wadlow

No abstract provided.

Post-Sale Restraints And Competitive Harm: The First Sale Doctrine In Perspective, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

A post-sale restraint is a condition or contract provision that operates after a good has been sold. In antitrust law these restraints are roughly divided into two classes, “intrabrand” and “interbrand.” An intrabrand restraint limits the way a firm can distribute the restricted property. For example, resale price maintenance controls the price at which goods can be resold. Intrabrand nonprice restraints place other types of limits, such as the places from which goods can be sold, the uses for which they can be sold, and the identity of buyers. By contrast, an interbrand restraint limits a purchaser’s right to deal …