Bessen / Meurer Patent Failure

How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk
Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-2869-2
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 352 Seiten

In recent years, business leaders, policymakers, and inventors have complained to the media and to Congress that today's patent system stifles innovation instead of fostering it. But like the infamous patent on the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, much of the cited evidence about the patent system is pure anecdote--making realistic policy formation difficult. Is the patent system fundamentally broken, or can it be fixed with a few modest reforms? Moving beyond rhetoric, Patent Failure provides the first authoritative and comprehensive look at the economic performance of patents in forty years. James Bessen and Michael Meurer ask whether patents work well as property rights, and, if not, what institutional and legal reforms are necessary to make the patent system more effective.

Patent Failure presents a wide range of empirical evidence from history, law, and economics. The book's findings are stark and conclusive. While patents do provide incentives to invest in research, development, and commercialization, for most businesses today, patents fail to provide predictable property rights. Instead, they produce costly disputes and excessive litigation that outweigh positive incentives. Only in some sectors, such as the pharmaceutical industry, do patents act as advertised, with their benefits outweighing the related costs.

By showing how the patent system has fallen short in providing predictable legal boundaries, Patent Failure serves as a call for change in institutions and laws. There are no simple solutions, but Bessen and Meurer's reform proposals need to be heard. The health and competitiveness of the nation's economy depend on it.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bessen, James

Meurer, Michael J.

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Wirtschaftsrecht Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz Patentrecht, Gebrauchs- und Geschmacksmusterrecht, Designrecht

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface ix

Chapter 1: The Argument in Brief 1

Chapter 2: Why Property Rights Work, How Property Rights Fail 29

Chapter 3: If You Can't Tell the Boundaries, Then It Ain't Property 46

Chapter 4: Survey of Empirical Research: Do Patents Perform Like Property? 73

Chapter 5: What Are U.S. Patents Worth to Their Owners? 95

Chapter 6: The Cost of Disputes 120

Chapter 7: How Important Is the Failure of Patent Notice? 147

Chapter 8: Small Inventors 165

Chapter 9: Abstract Patents and Software 187

Chapter 10: Making Patents Work as Property 215

Chapter 11: Reforms to Improve Notice 235

Chapter 12: A Glance Forward 254

Notes 261

References 295

Index 315

Über Autor(innen)

James Bessen, a former software developer and CEO, is lecturer at Boston University School of Law. Michael J. Meurer is the Michaels Faculty Research Scholar and professor of law at Boston University.