The patent system has, from its inception, involved a basic economic inconsistency. In a free-enterprise economy dedicated to competition, we have chosen, not only to tolerate but to encourage, individual [...]
In many countries, including recently the United States, holders of patents must pay a renewal fee to keep their patents in force. If that fee is not paid in any [...]
Two points will be made: patents are not a constant-yardstick indicator of either inventive input or output; moreover, they are "produced" by a governmental agency, the U.S. Patent Office, that [...]
According to the economic theory of patents, patents are needed so that pioneer firm have time to recoup their sunk costs of research and development. The key element in the [...]
In this paper we have reported results of our research examining the “sunset” H2s up to and following their Rx patent expiration, as they encountered cannibalization from their own and [...]
This paper reviews the economic case for patents and the potential for differential pricing to increase affordability of on-patent drugs in developing countries while preserving incentives for innovation. Differential pricing, [...]
This Article provides the first look at patent litigation hazards for public firms during the 1980s and 1990s. Litigation is more likely when prospective plaintiffs acquire more patents, when firms [...]
In the past, “non-practicing entities” (NPEs), popularly known as “patent trolls”, have helped small inventors profit from their inventions. Is this true today or, given the unprecedented levels of NPE [...]
The most significant changes to the patent and innovation system in the past two centuries have been, or are in the process of being, implemented in the United States today. [...]
The U.S. patent system has long depended on trials before lay judges and lay juries for adjudicating patent disputes. Many think that reliance on lay judges and juries is a [...]