By Mark Schultz & Adam Mossoff
A handful of increasingly noisy critics of intellectual property (IP) have emerged within free market organizations. Both the emergence and vehemence of this group has surprised most observers, since free market advocates generally support property rights. Read more
Last week, CPIP released an important new policy brief, The Critical Role of Patents in the Development, Commercialization, and Utilization of Innovative Genetic Diagnostic Tests, by Professor Chris Holman. Professor Holman explains the important role that patents play not only in attracting the capital investment needed to bring genetic tests to market, but also in incentivizing companies to invest in educating patients and their doctors about new tests and in facilitating insurance reimbursements for new tests. Read more
By Steven Tjoe
Much of today’s patent policy debate focuses on the dynamics of patent litigation. Sensational anecdotes of abusive demand letters, litigants strategically exploiting bad patents, and tales of so-called “patent trolls” (reinforced by now debunked empirical claims) have captured the public’s imagination and spurred Congress to rush to revise the patent system. Read more
By Steven Tjoe
In his forthcoming George Mason University Law Review article entitled “The Meaning of ‘Fair and Reasonable’ in the Context of Third-Party Determination of FRAND Terms,” Professor Damien Geradin explores the delicate balance of interests protected by the current system of arm’s length negotiations in the standard-setting process, and the detrimental effect disrupting this balance would have on standards-related technologies and our innovation economy. Read more
By Steven Tjoe
On Thursday March 13, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) notice and takedown system. Among the witnesses testifying at the hearing was CPIP Fellow Professor Sean O’Connor (Washington University School of Law), who offered his insights on Section 512 from his unique position as a law professor, former musician, and counsel to web businesses. Read more
In conjunction with today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on the DMCA, CPIP Senior Scholar Prof. Mark Schultz published a critique of the notice and takedown system this morning on AEI’s TechPolicyDaily Blog.
In his critique, Prof. Schultz discusses CPIP’s policy brief by Prof. Read more
CPIP’s Mark Schultz authored an excellent essay today in TechPolicyDaily.com advocating intellectual property as a source of personal and economic freedom. The essay, “A Free Market Perspective on Intellectual Property Rights,” describes parallels between physical property and intellectual property and dispels several denigrating myths about intellectual property’s role in a free market. Read more
By Steven Tjoe
Today, misguided fears of an explosion of patent litigation and the specter of the so-called “patent troll” problem continue to influence the popular perception of patent policy. Over the past year, various organizations have spurred a movement to make significant legislative changes to our patent system, despite calls for caution and further investigation by judges, FTC Commissioners, former USPTO directors, and Congress’ very own Government Accountability Office (GAO). Read more
