We’ve all heard the narrative about patent licensing firms, often referred to pejoratively as “patent trolls.” These patent owners, who choose to license their innovations rather than build them, are the supposed poster-children of a “broken” patent system. It’s as if commercializing one’s property, just like a landlord leases his land for another to use, is suddenly a bad thing. Read more
Category: Patent Law
The One Year Anniversary: The Aftermath of #AliceStorm
The following post, by Robert R. Sachs, first appeared on the Bilski Blog, and it is reposted here with permission.
It’s been one year since the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank. On its face the opinion was relatively conservative, cautioning courts to “tread carefully” before invalidating patents, and emphasizing that the primary concern was to avoid preemption of “fundamental building blocks” of human ingenuity. Read more
Federal Circuit Threatens Innovation: Dissecting the Ariosa v. Sequenom Opinion
By Patent Publius
Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in Ariosa v. Sequenom, a closely-watched biotechnology case with significant repercussions for patent-eligibility analysis generally. Unfortunately, the Federal Circuit misapplies the Supreme Court’s analytical framework from Mayo v. Read more
Supreme Court Recognizes that Patents are Property
By Adam Mossoff
In an important decision handed down today, the Supreme Court explicitly recognized that patents are property secured by the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause. In Horne v. Department of Agriculture, the Court held that the Takings Clause imposes a “categorical duty” on the government to pay just compensation whether it takes personal or real property. Read more
Unintended Consequences of “Patent Reform”: The Customer Suit Exception
In the last two weeks, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees marked up wide-ranging patent legislation ostensibly aimed at combating frivolous litigation by so-called “patent trolls.” But while the stated purpose of the House and Senate bills—H.R. 9 (the “Innovation Act”) and S. Read more
The Commercial Value of Software Patents in the High-Tech Industry
In CPIP’s newest policy brief, Professor Saurabh Vishnubhakat examines the important role patents play in commercializing software innovation and supporting technology markets. He explains how a proper understanding of this commercial role requires a broader view of patents in software innovation than the all-too-common focus on a small handful of litigated patents and legal questions of patentability and patent quality. Read more
CPIP Supports Guidelines for the Protection of Fundamental IP Rights
February 2, 2015
The Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) is proud to join today’s open letter to Congress providing a set of guidelines for considering laws and regulations governing intellectual property.
The letter outlines some of the fundamental economic and moral considerations that underscore the benefits of strong intellectual property rights. Read more
Curbing the Abuses of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law: An Indictment and Reform Agenda
The following is taken from a CPIP policy brief by Professor Richard A. Epstein. A PDF of the full policy brief is available here.
Curbing the Abuses of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law:
An Indictment and Reform Agenda
Executive Summary
There are increasing complaints in both the European Union and the United States about a systematic bias in China’s enforcement of its Anti-Monopoly Law (AML). Read more
Cohen et al. “Patent Trolls” Study Uses Incomplete Data, Performs Flawed Empirical Tests, and Makes Unsupportable Findings
PDF summary available here
I. Introduction
A recent draft study about patent licensing companies entitled “Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms” is making the rounds on Capitol Hill and receiving press coverage. This attention is unfortunate, because the study is deeply flawed and its conclusions cannot and should not be relied upon. Read more
IP Promotes Progress by Securing the Individual Liberty of Inventors and Creators
This is the third in a series of posts summarizing CPIP’s 2014 Fall Conference, “Common Ground: How Intellectual Property Unites Creators and Innovators.” The Conference was held at George Mason University School of Law on October 9-10, 2014. Videos of the conference panels and keynote will be available soon. Read more