We study innovation incentives in the presence of "product hopping," whereby the incumbent patents a minor modification of a drug (e.g., a new delivery method) and invests in marketing to switch demand towards the minor modification. In our setting firms compete sequentially to discover two...

The possible predatory and anti-competitive implications of announcing new products well in advance of actual market availability has lead to allegations that firms are intentionally engaging in vaporware. This issue recently surfaced in the antitrust case United States v. Microsoft Corporation....

The software industry practice of announcing new products well in advance of actual market availability has led to allegations that firms are intentionally engaging in vaporware. The possible predatory and anti-competitive implications of this behavior recently surfaced in the antitrust case...

In a patent infringement suit, the alleged infringer wins with a ruling of either patent invalidity or non-infringement. It is ambiguous which of these outcomes is preferred by the alleged infringer. Invalidity may increase current-period competition, but simultaneously removes constraints to...

Hearing on "Net Neutrality: Is Antitrust Law More Effective than Regulation in Protecting Consumers and Innovation?" Testimony of Bruce M. Owen before the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington DC,...

This paper examines the U.S. government's intramural research and development efforts over a 40-year period, drawing together multiple human capital, government spending, and patent datasets. The U.S. Federal Government innovates along four dimensions: technological, organizational, regulatory,...

The "tragedy of the commons" metaphor helps explain why people overuse shared resources. However, the recent proliferation of intellectual property rights in biomedical research suggests a different tragedy, an "anticommons" in which people underuse scarce resources because too many owners can...

This article examines the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property law, critiquing the government's approach and proposing amendments to current standards. In particular, this article focuses on the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission's treatment of innovation...

Current international patent rules strike an uneasy balance between conflicting views about patents. The precarious nature of this balancing act is illustrated by the recent heated debate about the conditions under which compulsory licenses will be available for certain essential medicines under...

This article questions the conventional theory purporting to establish that emissions trading encourages innovation better than comparable traditional regulation. The conventional theory relies upon the incentive emissions trading creates for polluters to make additional reductions in order to...