Intellectual Property

Reconceptualizing Copyright's Merger Doctrine

The “Merger Doctrine” is a defense to a charge of copyright infringement. Some ideas can only be expressed a certain way; courts say that the idea merges with the author’s choice of expression. Merger is important in many cases, including those involving software and depictions of nature.

Beyond Eureka: What Creators Want (Freedom, Credit, and Audiences) and How Intellectual Property Can Better Give It to Them (by Supporting Sharing, Licensing, and Attribution)

Intellectual property (IP) law gives creators the right to stop others from using their created works. But IP law may fail to support creators’ achievement of goals such as creative freedom, proper attribution, and sharing.

Intangible but Bankable

Intangible assets like patents are hard for investors to evaluate. But startups developing medical devices, semiconductors, and software had have surprising success obtaining venture capital loans secured by intangible assets like patents.

How Do Patents Affect Follow-on Innovation? Evidence from the Human Genome

Most innovation builds on earlier inventions. Some are concerned that patents on discoveries like human genes discourage later research relating to those genes. The evidence does not support the view that patenting of human genes either hinders or encourages follow-on research.

The Audience in Intellectual Property Infringement

Each intellectual property (IP) regime (patent, copyright, design patent, and trademark) defines infringement differently. To find infringement, courts should require that the copy be technically similar to the original and that the sale of the copy affects the market for the original.

Disclosing Big Data

Firms that collect big data rarely disclose their methods for doing so. Because of lack of disclosure, others will not trust the data enough to use it. Trade secret, patent, and copyright laws do not encourage the disclosure of big data methods.

Standard-Essential Patents

This paper proposes a solution to the problem of inefficient license pricing for patents included in standards.

Perspectives on Patentable Subject Matter

Commentators disagree as to whether some new ideas should be eligible for patent protection. Protection for business methods, software, methods for treating and diagnosing disease, and DNA is controversial. However, a rule that such technologies can never be patented might not be workable.

The Idiosyncrasy of Patent Examiners: The Effects of Experience and Attrition

The quality of patents in the United States might be declining. As a patent examiner gains experience, the quality of patents she grants falls. But the quality of patents granted by “careerist” patent examiners with a long tenure in office is much higher.

A Simple Approach to Setting Reasonable Royalties for Standard-Essential Patents

This article suggests binding arbitration as a way to resolve disputes arising within standard-setting organizations.