Showing 161 - 170 of 173
Michele Boldrin and David Levine offer a strong attack on intellectual property (IP), which they call “intellectual monopoly.” In their view, IP is not necessary to encourage invention or creation. Quite the contrary, they argue that we get innovation from competition, not monopoly. Further,...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014207732
We identify the patents litigated most frequently between 2000 and 2007, and compare those patents to a control set of patents that have been litigated only once in that period. The results are startling. The most litigated patents are far more likely to be software and telecommunications...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014207733
Trademark law centers its analysis on consumer confusion. With some significant exceptions, the basic rule of trademark law is that a defendant’s use of a mark is illegal if it confuses a substantial number of consumers and not otherwise. As a general matter, this is the right rule. Trademark...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014207734
We study several interconnected problems that arise under the current U.S. patent system when a patent covers one component or feature of a complex product, This situation is common in the information technology sector of the economy. First, we show using bargaining theory that the threat to...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014056563
Sixteen years ago, two of us published the first detailed empirical look at patent litigation. In this Article, we update and expand the earlier study with a new hand-coded data set. We evaluate all substantive decisions rendered by any court in every patent case filed in 2008 and 2009 —...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014145334
In this paper, we show that there are important differences across patent examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and that these relate to the most important decision made by the USPTO: whether or not to grant a patent. We find that more experienced examiners, and those who...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014211236
Traditional justifications for patents are all based on direct or indirect contribution to the creation of new products. Patents serve the social interest if they provide not just invention, but innovation the world would not otherwise have. Non-practicing entities (NPEs) as well as...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014129088
A growing chorus of voices is sounding a common refrain - the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is issuing far too many bad patents. These criticisms are complicated by the rather surprising fact that we don't actually know what percentage of patent applications actually issue as patents....
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014049128
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is tasked with the job of reading patent applications and determining which ones qualify for patent protection. It is a Herculean task, and the Patent Office pursues it subject to enormous informational and budgetary constraints. Nonetheless, under...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014052668
Economists often assume that a patent gives its owner a well-defined legal right to exclude others from practicing the invention described in the patent. In practice, however, the rights afforded to patent holders are highly uncertain. Under patent law, a patent is no guarantee of exclusion but...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014070564