This article examines the leeway the TRIPS Agreement grants to WTO Members to define their own standard of patentability in the field of pharmaceutical inventions. To this end, the contribution adopts an anecdotal approach: instead of abstractly analyzing the boundaries set by Article 27 TRIPS,...

This Essay identifies a new boundary in patent law: invention creation activity and explores the possible challenges and opportunities it may facilitate. The boundary currently is neither robust nor extensive, and whether and under what circumstances it should exist at all is open to debate

The Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit have repeatedly emphasized the public interest in testing the validity of patents, weeding out patents that should not have been issued. But there is one important group of people the law systematically prevents from challenging bad patents. Curiously,...

Open innovation is the subject of increased scholarly debate. A lot of attention has thereby been paid to firm-centered open innovation, characterized by a for-profit motive and the interplay between patents and contracts, resulting in restricted openness. Inspired by the increasing call for...

I consider whether government prizes should replace market prices for inventions. The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 establishes a framework for government prizes. I examine how antitrust and public policy towards patents should take into account the economic benefits of the market...

Nanotechnology has experienced an accelerated development during the last 20 years. The newness of the topic -- combined with the high potential of the technology in terms of capacity to impact people's lives and the business universe expected to be generated -- has produced extensive...

This paper analyzes the relationship between academic inventors and firms, focusing on the relation between academic inventors, the technological profiles of firms and patent value. In particular, this paper focuses on the value of academic patents as compared to non-academic patents, owned by...

We estimate individual returns to patents using a unique longitudinal administrative dataset on patents and earnings, following individuals and firms for 20 years (1987-2006). We find that inventors' wages steadily increase before patent applications are submitted to the European Patent Office,...