Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Universitytm: Trademark Rights Accretion In Higher Education, Jacob H. Rooksby

Law Faculty Publications

Colleges and universities are no strangers to intellectual property. In a higher education environment increasingly challenged by dwindling state appropriations and stagnant or declining tuition revenue, the pressure is on for colleges and universities to generate revenue via new channels. The commercialization of intellectual property has proven to be a popular, albeit imperfect, vehicle in furtherance of these efforts. Although there is no shortage of both legal and higher education commentary focusing on the treatment of patents and copyrights by institutions of higher education, trademark activity by colleges and universities largely has escaped attention. ...

The Influence Of The Andean Intellectual Property Regime On Access To Medicines In Latin America, Laurence R. Helfer, Karen J. Alter

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter is a contribution to "Balancing Wealth and Health: Global Administrative Law and the Battle over Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines in Latin America," Rochelle Dreyfuss & César Rodríguez-Garavito, eds. Part I of the chapter explains how the repeated interactions between the Andean Tribunal of Justice (ATJ) and domestic IP agencies in the Andean Community helped to build an effective IP rule of law and to solidify pro-consumer interpretations of regional patent and trademark rules. Part II documents how ATJ judges and agency officials enabled Andean governments to resist pressure from the United States and its pharmaceutical industry …

Patents At Issue: The Data Behind The Patent Troll Debate, Jonathan H. Ashtor, Michael J. Mazzeo, Samantha Zyontz

Faculty Scholarship

The debate over "patent trolls"' is raging at full tilt and its fury is stoked by fundamental questions about patent assertion. Both sides are struggling to understand which patent assertion practices are consistent with the purpose of patent rights and which are abusive and result in net social costs. This Article addresses patent assertion concretely through empirical analysis of actual infringement awards. In particular, this Article studies all awards granted for findings of patent infringement in U.S. district courts between 1995 and 2011, and, with targeted analyses, focuses on cases involving patent assertion entities ("PAEs"). This Article specifically investigates certain …

Evaluating Flexibility In International Patent Law, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Faculty Publications

Global patent law has raced toward harmonization over the past decades. Countries with vastly different industries, values, and levels of development now offer robust patent rights with similar contours through membership in the World Trade Organization and consequent adoption of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”). However, patent law is still far from harmonized among countries or static within countries. Jurisdictions tailor their patent laws to accommodate differences between industries, unforeseen inefficiencies, and diverse views of the costs and benefits associated with offering patent rights to stimulate innovation. Prior scholarly work consists of either doctrinal analyses …

Do Npes Matter? Non-Practicing Entities And Patent Litigation Outcomes, Michael J. Mazzeo, Jonathan H. Ashtor, Samantha Zyontz

Faculty Scholarship

It is widely argued that so-called “patent trolls” are corrupting the U.S. patent system and endangering technology innovation and commercialization at large. For example, a recent White House report argued that “trolls” hurt firms of all sizes and advocated for specific policies aimed at curtailing practices thought to be particularly harmful. Yet the existence and extent of any systematic effects of so-called “troll-like” behavior, and the implications of modern patent assertion practices by Non-Practicing Entities (“NPEs”), remains unclear. This article develops novel empirical evidence to inform the debate over NPEs on patent litigation. Specifically, we conduct a large-scale empirical analysis …

Brand Name Or Generic? A Case Note On Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories V. Novo Nordisck , Michael Vincent Ruocco

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Reverse Payments, Perverse Incentives, Murat C. Mungan

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Innovation, Inequality, And The Commercialization Of Academic Research, Walter Valdivia

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Patent policy is rarely debated in relation to its distributive consequences. In particular, the Bayh-Dole Act has been discussed in terms of its effects on the pace of innovation or the organization of science. However, this lecture re-assesses this policy from the perspective of a fair distribution of resources, both those committed to and those created by research-based innovation. Specifically, examining the management of university’s intellectual property, Valdivia will identify the institutional arrangements that reinforce a very asymmetric distribution of political and economic resources among universities and then characterize subtle but important links between these inequalities and the social distribution …

Not All Patents Are Created Equal: Bias Against Predictable Arts Patents In The Post-Ksr Landscape, David Tseng

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Recent Decisions Provide Some Clarity On How Courts And Government Agencies Will Likely Resolve Issues Involving Standard-Essential Patents, Steven M. Amundson

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Rebuttable Presumption Of Public Interest In Protecting The Public Health --The Necessity For Denying Injunctive Relief In Medically-Related Patent Infringement Cases After Ebay V. Mercexchange, Lance Wyatt

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

The public’s interest in medicine and good health is substantial. However, this interest is harmed when important medical devices or pharmaceuticals, although infringing on valid patents, are suddenly taken off the market after a court grants a permanent injunction. While permanent injunctions were automatically granted by the Federal Circuit before the Supreme Court’s holding in eBay v. MercExchange, courts now have more discretion to deny injunctive relief. Now that courts have this newfound discretion after eBay, the public should no longer expect to be harmed by the sudden removal of medical supplies. Unfortunately, this has not been the course that …

Patent Litigation Attorneys' Fees: Shifting From Status To Conduct, Daniel Roth

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Abusive patent assertion results in deadweight losses to society. Faced with the high cost of patent litigation, companies often settle for an amount equal to a fraction of the cost of defending a patent infringement suit. This allows the patent owner to extract settlements from many individuals without the risk of invalidation before a federal court. Shifting attorneys' fees to the prevailing party is a remedy courts award in exceptional cases to deter patent owners from bringing unreasonable claims of infringement and to return defendants to the position they were in prior to litigation. Current fee-shifting proposals target patent assertion …

Keynote Address: Is It Time To Abolish The Federal Circuit's Exclusive Jurisdiction In Patent Cases?, Diane P. Wood

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Free Riders At The Drugstore: Generics, Consumer Confusion, And The Public Good, Kelley Clements Keller Esq.

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Establishing An Island Of Patent Sanity, Oskar Liivak

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

There is a growing, inescapable sense that something has gone terribly wrong with the patent system. The patent system is described as a failure, broken, and dysfunctional. Yet, despite the fact that much of today’s headline-grabbing patent activity appears facially unproductive, we really can’t be sure that the system has failed in its mission. Current patent theory is so indeterminate that it is hard to decisively criticize these activities. In fact, the current narrative cannot conclusively show that patent trolls or any other patent-related activities are or are not economically justified. Though depressing and perhaps embarrassing, this patent indeterminacy is …

Technically Speaking, Does It Matter? An Empirical Study Linking The Federal Circuit Judges' Technical Backgrounds To How They Analyze The Section 112 Enablement And Written Description Requirements, Dunstan H. Barnes

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Patent cases are decided exclusively by federal judges, who—unlike patent attorneys appearing before the United States Patent and Trademark Office—are not required to have any scientific or technical qualifications. The present empirical study explores whether there is a correlation between the technical backgrounds of judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and these judges’ analysis of the enablement and written description patent requirements under 35 U.S.C. § 112. The results indicate that Federal Circuit judges with technical backgrounds are more likely than their non-technical peers to reverse lower courts, but not significantly more likely to …

Unenforceability, Lee Petherbridge, Jason Rantanen, R. Polk Wagner

Washington and Lee Law Review

The patent doctrine of inequitable conduct—which allows a patent to be held unenforceable on the basis of misbehavior by the applicant during patent prosecution—has been the subject of intense criticism from the bench and bar alike. And yet to date there has been no systematic attempt to determine whether the doctrine is or is not working as theorized. This study fills that gap. We evaluate the performance of the inequitable conduct doctrine with a novel methodological approach: by empirically characterizing the differences between patents found unenforceable and several other types of patents (unlitigated, litigated, invalid, obvious, and underdisclosed), we use …

Exclusivity Without Patents: The New Frontier Of Fda Regulation For Genetic Materials, Gregory Dolin

All Faculty Scholarship

Over the last twenty years, the legal and scientific academic communities have been embroiled in a debate about the patent eligibility of genetic materials. The stakes for both sides could not be higher. On one hand are the potential multi-billion dollar profits on the fruits of research (from newly discovered genes), and on the other is scientists' ability to continue and expand research into the human genome to improve patients' access to affordable diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. This debate is currently pending before the Supreme Court, which is considering a petition for certiorari in Ass'n for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. …

Asserting Patents To Combat Infringement Via 3d Printing: It’S No “Use”, Daniel Harris Brean

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Three-dimensional ("3D") printing technology, which enables physical objects to be "printed" as easily as words can be printed on a page, is rapidly moving from industrial settings into consumers' homes. The advent of consumer grade 3D printers fundamentally alters the traditional allocation of manufacturing infrastructure and sales activity. No longer do manufacturers need to make, sell, and ship physical products in their physical states. Rather, consumers may download digital representations of products over the Internet for printing in the comfort their own homes. For products sold in this fashion that are patented, this presents difficult hurdles to enforcement against infringers. …

Shopping For Reversals: How Accuracy Differs Across Patent Litigation Forums, Teresa Lii

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

This study analyzes the rate of reversal on appeal of each district court for the most popular patent litigation forums in the United States. Alarmingly, this study finds that district courts which have been shopped for by litigants may also be the courts that are most often applying patent law erroneously. Among these districts is the notoriously patentee-friendly Eastern District of Texas, which has attracted huge volumes of litigants to its dockets in recent years.

Although forum shopping has always antagonized the fairness of civil proceedings, it is of special problem in the context of patent litigation. Where billions of …

Genomics Unbound: The Scientific And Legal Case Against Patents Based On Naturally Occurring Dna Sequences, Fazal Khan

Scholarly Works

While there have been mixed opinions as to whether gene patents were dead in light of Prometheus,this Article argues that a proper understanding of patent law, genomics, and public policy concerns should lead to no other result. The primary focus of this piece is to rebut certain vested interests in the biotechnology industry and affirm the normative claim that gene patents improperly fetter genomics research and development. First, through the lens of the Myriad case, we will recount why there was such a strong public interest movement against recognizing such patents. Specifically, we will show how patents on naturally occurring …

Genomics Unbound: The Scientific And Legal Case Against Patents Based On Naturally Occurring Dna Sequences, Fazal Khan, Lindsay Kessler

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Legislative Proposal To End Bootlegging In The Patent System, James Van Santen

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Using Valuation-Based Decision Making To Increase The Efficiency Of China's Patent Subsidy Strategies, William Murphy, John L. Orcutt

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] “The Chinese government has grown concerned that its patent fee subsidy programs have not funded the most deserving patents, and thus they no longer wish to spend public resources to promote low-value patents. Instead, the government would prefer subsidy programs that encourage the most deserving patents. The Patent Strategy reflects this desire, as the fourth strategic focus of the Patent Strategy recognizes the need to “[o]ptimize [China’s] patent subsidy policy and further define the orientation to enhance patent quality.”19 This Article explains how a disciplined and transparent valuation-based decision making process can help the Chinese government design patent fee …

Patent Invalidity Versus Noninfringement, Roger Allen Ford

Law Faculty Scholarship

Most patent scholars agree that the Patent and Trademark Office grants too many invalid patents and that these patents impose a significant tax upon industry and technological innovation. Although policymakers and scholars have proposed various ways to address this problem, including better ex ante review by patent examiners and various forms of ex post administrative review, district courts invalidating patents in litigation remain a core defense against bad patents. This article analyzes a previously unidentified impediment to the use of district courts to invalidate patents. Nearly every patent lawsuit rises or falls on one of two defenses: invalidity or noninfringement. …

The National Institutes Of Health, Patents, And The Public Interest: An Expanded Rationale Of Justice Breyer’S Dissent In Stanford V. Roche, Nida Shakir

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In February 2010, the Alzheimer’s Institute of America (AIA) filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Jackson Laboratory, the largest repository of research mice in the world. AIA sued Jackson Laboratory for infringing on AIA’s patent covering a DNA mutation linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Jackson Lab allegedly violated that patent by distributing mice especially bred for Alzheimer’s research. READ MORE, download the article.

International Intellectual Property Scholars Series: A Fundamental Critique Of The Law-And-Economics Analysis Of Intellectual Property Rights, Andreas Rahmatian

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

None.

International Intellectual Property Scholars Series: European Union Patents: A Mission Impossible? An Assessment Of The Historical And Current Approaches, Mauricio Troncoso

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

None.

A Trademark Justification For Design Patent Rights, Dennis D. Crouch

Faculty Publications

This article presents a new set of empirical results to support the theoretical construct that design patents fill a gap in trade dress law protection. Based on the data, I tentatively reject the oft-stated conventional wisdom that design patents are worthless for many because procurement is too slow, expensive, and difficult. Rather, based on a first-of-its-kind analysis of the prosecution history files of a large sample of recently issued design patents, I conclude that the current design patent examination system operates as a de facto registration system. Notably, more than ninety-eight percent (98%) of the patents in my study were …

The Paradox Of Legal Equivalents And Scientific Equivalence: Reconciling Patent Law's Doctrine Of Equivalents With The Fda's Bioequivalence Requirement, Janet Freilich

Faculty Scholarship

Contrary to popular perception, generic drugs often enter the market before the patents covering their brand name counterparts have expired by making slight changes to the drug to avoid the brand name patent. These generics face a paradox: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that the generic "not show a significant difference" from the reference product, while patent law requires that the generic have "substantial differences" as compared to the reference product. The generic must be bioequivalent, but not legally equivalent, to the brand name drug. This paradox occurs frequently in the courts but has never been discussed …