The traditional argument that shorter product cycles favor trade secret over patenting is reviewed. A game theoretic model provides an argument that shorter product cycles can induce firms to file more patent applications. The firms may be trapped in a prisoners' dilemma where all firms would...

Setting an industry-wide standard is crucial for information and communication technologies for interoperability, compatibility and efficiency. To minimize holdup problems, patent holders are often required to ex-ante commit to licensing their technologies under Fair, Reasonable and...

This article describes the processes involving the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO’s) implementation of administrative patent levers related to business methods. Administrative patent levers are conceptualized in this article as rules that represent a coordinated policy at...

I introduce and analyze an equilibrium model of discovery, innovation, patenting and infringement. Firms that innovate must adapt complementary inputs, and are ex ante uncertain about whether adaptations will be costly and whether they will infringe other patents. If adaptation requires...

In private enforcement systems such as the one for patents, remedies perform the “public” function of determining the optimal amount of protection and deterrence. If every patent were properly granted and had just the right scope to incentivize innovation, then strict enforcement and harsh...

One prong of the antitrust litigation against Microsoft Corporation challenges the terms under which Microsoft has licensed its Windows operating system to computer manufacturers (OEMs). Plaintiffs complain that the license agreements' requirement that the first screen to appear when customers...

One prong of the antitrust litigation against Microsoft Corporation challenges the terms under which Microsoft has licensed its Windows operating system to computer manufacturers (OEMs). Plaintiffs complain that the license agreements' requirement that the first screen to appear when customers...

The traditional argument that shorter product cycles favor trade secret over patenting is reviewed. A game theoretic model provides an argument that shorter product cycles can induce firms to file more patent applications. The firms may be trapped in a prisoners' dilemma where all firms would...

The Constitution gives Congress the power to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts." The patent system embodies this power, but does it fulfill its essential purpose? This Note explores the scope of the exclusive rights of patents, arguing that in many circumstances the exclusive...

Many patent applications are rejected upon initial submission, but they are almost never rejected with absolute finality. Further, subsequent to filing its original application a patent applicant might wish to write an application with broader or somewhat different claims, or perhaps add claims...