Law Commons^™

Patent Assertion Entities, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

The DOJ and FTC held a workshop on patent assertion entities on Dec 10 2012. This talk gives an overview of the economics, policy of patent assertion entities drawing upon previous and new empirical work. Using pathbreaking, disruptive techniques and capturing economies of scale, PAEs drive down the cost of patent enforcement. PAEs brought 61% of all patent litigations in 2012, representing fewer defendants than in 2011, because of changes in the patent law. 76% of PAE defendants were sued by a PAE that sued more than 15 defendants, and 61% were sued by a PAE that had brought 8 …

Standardized Terms And Conditions For Open Patenting, Mariateresa Maggiolino, Maria Lillà Montagnani

mariateresa maggiolino

Once given a legal characterization of the open patenting phenomenon and discussed many of the empirical and theoretical experiences dealing with both open innovation and defensive patenting, the paper suggests what standardized terms and conditions a patent license should encompass in order to foster both the free movement of patented knowledge and its business applications.

Standards, Patents, And The National Smart Grid, Jorge L. Contreras

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Principle Of Fair Notice: Is It Prudent Guidance For The Future Of Patent Law? , Georgia E. Kralovic

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Injunction Junction: Microsoft V Motorola, Case No. 12-35352 (9th Cir. Sept. 28, 2012), Jeff Tye

GGU Law Review Blog

No abstract provided.

Competition In Information Technologies: Standards-Essential Patents, Non-Practicing Entities And Frand Bidding, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Standard Setting is omnipresent in networked information technologies. Virtually every cellular phone, computer, digital camera or similar device contains technologies governed by a collaboratively developed standard. If these technologies are to perform competitively, the processes by which standards are developed and implemented must be competitive. In this case attaining competitive results requires a mixture of antitrust and non-antitrust legal tools.

FRAND refers to a firm’s ex ante commitment to make its technology available at a “fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory royalty.” The FRAND commitment results from bidding to have one’s own technology selected as a standard. Typically the FRAND commitment is …

Startups And Patent Trolls, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

While patent assertion entities (or patent “trolls”) have received a lot of attention, little of it has focused on the distributional impacts of their demands. The impact on PAEs on startups is crucial, because startups contribute to job creation and innovation, making them potential targets and sources of patents. To assess the impact of trolls on startups, I analyzed a comprehensive database of patent litigations from 2005 to the present, conducted a non-random survey of 223 tech company startups, and interviewed nearly twenty entities with relevant knowledge of startup patent issues.

I find that although large companies tend to dominate …

Reviving The Gatekeeping Function: Optimizing The Exclusion Potential Of Subject Matter Eligibility, Maayan Filmar-Perel

maayan filmar

Today, many patents that fail the constitutional mandate “[to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts” are issued. Patents are granted irrespective of whether they are actually needed to incentivize innovation.

Consequently, many patent grants fail to reflect an appropriate balance between the ex post costs of short-term monopoly and the benefits of higher ex ante incentives to innovate. Other patents are issued without having any prospected commercial use, so no one actually makes an economically beneficial use of them. The worst of these are those that are sought solely for the purpose of initiating infringement lawsuits and extorting …

Reviving The Gatekeeping Function, Maayan Filmar-Perel

maayan filmar

Today, many patents that fail the constitutional mandate “[to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts” are issued. Patents are granted irrespective of whether they are actually needed to incentivize innovation.

Consequently, many patent grants fail to reflect an appropriate balance between the ex post costs of short-term monopoly and the benefits of higher ex ante incentives to innovate. Other patents are issued without having any prospected commercial use, so no one actually makes an economically beneficial use of them. The worst of these are those that are sought solely for the purpose of initiating infringement lawsuits and extorting …

Reviving The Gatekeeping Function, Maayan Filmar-Perel

maayan filmar

Today, many patents that fail the constitutional mandate “[to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts” are issued. Patents are granted irrespective of whether they are actually needed to incentivize innovation.

Consequently, many patent grants fail to reflect an appropriate balance between the ex post costs of short-term monopoly and the benefits of higher ex ante incentives to innovate. Other patents are issued without having any prospected commercial use, so no one actually makes an economically beneficial use of them. The worst of these are those that are sought solely for the purpose of initiating infringement lawsuits and extorting …

Reforming Software Patents, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

While many believe the patent system has hit a historic and unprecedented low, discontent with patents, and in particular with software patents, is nothing new. In 1966, a Presidential Commission recommended prohibiting software patents because of the PTO’s inability to vet them. In 1883, the Supreme Court railed against “speculative schemers who make it their business to watch the advancing wave of improvement and gather its foam in the form of patented monopolies, which enable them to lay a heavy tax.” In 1836, the Ruggles Report documented how lax patent standards, “encourag[ed] fraudulent speculators in patent rights, deluging the entire …

Cross-Border Ip Infringement: Patents, Marketa Trimble

Boyd Briefs / Road Scholars

Professor Marketa Trimble presented these materials at the CASRIP 20th Anniversary / IP LLM 10th Anniversary IP-across Topic Scholarship Conference on July 28, 2012.

A Generation Of Software Patents, James Bessen

Faculty Scholarship

This report 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.

Gatewood, Williamson (Sc 595), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 595. Legal papers, including license, 1808, copy of patent, 1812, with attached drawing of machine for shelling corn invented by Paul Pilsbury in 1803, and papers pertaining to lawsuit which evolved from the purchasing of the license by Williamson Gatewood of Bowling Green, Kentucky, for rights to sell the machine south of the Green River in Kentucky, 1812-1815. From Warren County Circuit Court Records #149.

Innovation And Competition Policy: Statutory Supplement And Other Materials, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

This Supplement to Cases and Materials on Innovation and Competition Policy includes the following: (1) a statutory supplement containing relevant provisions of the antitrust laws, the Patent Act, the Copyright Act, and the DMCA: (2) an annotated table of contents. Other supplemental materials, including discussion of recent decisions or other developments, will be added from time to time.

This book will be supplemented frequently as important new decisions or other developments occur. However, the author will attempt not to revise individual chapters during the course of the academic semester in order to avoid confusion in pagination or printing. Instead, supplemental …

A Treaty Of Versailles - How Microsoft Wants To, And How They Could, End The Patent War, Andrew Pierz

Andrew Pierz

Android began as a project by Andy Rubin after developing the Sidekick. The project was soon acquired by Google and licensed as open-source technology for third parties, like Samsung and HTC, to use in their phones. After Microsoft fell in mobile market share, they began to pursue aggressive litigation and licensing deals. Google, after pledging to defend their manufacturing partners, announced they would acquire Motorola Mobility for their patent portfolio. The paper will explore the history of Android and Windows Mobile, the extent of Microsoft’s mobile patent portfolio, the structure of Microsoft’s various deals, the planned acquisition of Motorola Mobility …

An Overview Of Patent Prosecution, Frederick W. Dingledy

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Taking Nature Back: Why Tax Strategy Law Is Relevant To Gene Patents, Amy E. Sestric

Missouri Law Review

On July 29, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the validity of several controversial patents in Association for Molecular Pathology v. United States Patent and Trademark Office.' The patents, exclusively assigned to Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Myriad), claim two human genes fundamental to understanding, researching, and diagnosing common strains of familial breast and ovarian cancers. Patients expressed concern that Myriad's exclusivity over the two genes made diagnosis excessively expensive and precluded the availability of independent second opinion testing. Although the Supreme Court of the United States vacated and remanded the Federal Circuit's decision, the Federal …

Technology Transfer And Innovation Policy At Canadian Universities: Opportunities And Social Costs, Samuel Trosow, Michael B. Mcnally, Laura E. Briggs, Cameron Hoffman, Cassandra D. Ball, Adam Jacobs, Bridget Moran

FIMS Publications

This report, supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Knowledge Synthesis Grant, critically examines the role of universities in transmitting knowledge in the forms of technology transfer mechanisms, intellectual property agreements and other knowledge diffusion policies. In reviewing and synthesizing the recent literature on the topic, we seek to provide some initial evidence-based policy recommendations in order to generally strengthen Canada‘s innovation ecosystem and more specifically to maximize the return on the nation‘s investment in higher education research and development.

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 …

Maturing Patent Theory From Industrial Policy To Intellectual Property, Oskar Liivak

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We have always known that technological progress is important and this country has always aimed to promote it. A large part of that responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the patent system. Embarrassingly, despite over two hundred years of experience, we still do not actually know if the patent system helps or hinders technological progress. This Essay argues that the problem is not the patent system but rather patent theory. Patent theory suffers from three linked problems: exceptionalness, indeterminacy, and animosity. First, patent law is seen as a necessarily unique exception to the overall market economy. By artificially making …

Oh, The Places You'll Go: The Implications Of Current Patent Law On Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Stacy Kincaid

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Digestion And Re-Innovation: A Lesson Learned From China´S High-Speed Rail Technology-Transfer Agreements, Joe Massie

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Markman Pro Publico: Friending The Courts On Patent Claim Interpretation Issues, Charles Lee Thomason

Intellectual Property Brief

In Markman claim term disputes, the paramount interest of the public in patents and in the public domain is unrepresented, even though “patent rights are ‘issues of great moment to the public.’” What delineates the outer bounds of the patent claim interpretation inquiry are the “private interests of the litigants.” The public interest is set aside. Neither the courts nor the litigants are well positioned to address the “underlying policy of the patent system” or to ask pointedly whether the patent claims, unless properly construed, have enough “worth to the public” to “outweigh the restrictive effect of the limited patent …

The Role Of Patents In The International Framework Of Clean Technology Transfer: A Discussion Of Barriers And Solutions, Mark Consilvio

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Funk Brothers - An Exercise Obviousness, Shine Tu

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Rebutting Obviousness In The Pharmaceutical Industry: Secondary Considerations Of Analogs, Jolie D. Lechner

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Pharmaceutical companies depend on patent protection to recuperate the high costs of research and development. In regards to the patentability of structurally related compounds, the courts must decide whether a compound is obvious in view of its structurally similar prior art. In general, a compound is non-obvious over the structurally related prior art if the compound exhibits unexpected results. However, placing primary emphasis on a compound's unexpected properties is out of step with the realities of drug development. For example, during drug development, chemists will modify a compound's structure until they produce a compound that exhibits optimal pharmakinetic properties. This …

Designer Collaborations As A Solution To The Fast-Fashion Copyright Dilemma, Arielle K. Cohen

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

This article explores the issue of large retailers capitalizing on designers’ designs by using the method of “close copying” and the dilemma that designers face due to their lack of recourse since their designs are not afforded copyright protection. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has been lobbying Congress for protection and their efforts have created the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act. This legislation is currently pending but it is a revised version of the earlier Design Piracy Prohibition Act and it removes many of the controversial provisions that were in the earlier version. Therefore, there is …

A Philosophical Analysis Of Intellectual Property: In Defense Of Instrumentalism, Michael A. Kanning

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues in favor of an instrumental approach to Intellectual Property (IP). I begin by reviewing justifications for IP that have been offered in recent literature, including Lockean labor theory, Hegelian personality theory, Kantian property theory and utilitarianism. Upon a close and careful analysis, I argue that none of these justifications suffice to ground contemporary IP practice. I review some recent works that offer `pluralist' justifications for IP, which draw from multiple theories in order to account for the diverse field of IP-related laws and practices in existence. I argue that these pluralist theories are also insufficient, because there …

Patent Chokepoints In The Influenza-Related Medicines Industry: Can Patent Pools Provide Balanced Access?, Dana Beldiman

Dana Beldiman

This paper illustrates the fact that when biological materials are used for development of pharmaceuticals, the patent system may function sub-optimally and may give rise to patent “thickets” and “anti-commons” which prevent commercialization of adequate amounts of product. These circumstances include inventions based on the same biological resource, patenting of largely similar functionalities, gene patents and patents that are narrow and fragmented. As a result, in order to obtain freedom to operate, drug developers must license-in multiple patents, often from competitors. This situation gives rise to uncertainty and is prone to hold-outs. The number of players actually developing drugs is …