George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School

Jonathan Barnett on Competition Regulators and Standard-Essential Patents

The following post comes from Connor Sherman, a 2L at Scalia Law and a Research Assistant at CPIP.

circuit boardBy Connor Sherman

The field of intellectual property (IP) can sometimes be wrong in its approach towards promoting economic health, especially when that approach overlaps with antitrust law. Read more

Professors Erika Lietzan and Kristina Acri on “Distorted Drug Patents”

The following post comes from Austin Shaffer, a 2L at Scalia Law and a Research Assistant at CPIP.

pharmaceuticalsBy Austin Shaffer

In their new paper, Distorted Drug Patents, CPIP Senior Scholar Erika Lietzan of Mizzou Law and Kristina Acri of Colorado College explore a paradox in our patent system: Innovators are less motivated to work on drugs that take more time to develop as drug research incentives are being skewed away from the harder problems (e.g. Read more

Professor David Taylor on Patent Eligibility and Investment

The following post comes from Terence Yen, a 4E at Scalia Law and a Research Assistant at CPIP.

files labeled as "patents"By Terence Yen

In his new paper, Patent Eligibility and Investment, Professor David Taylor of the SMU Dedman School of Law explores whether the Supreme Court’s recent patent eligibility cases have changed the behavior of venture capital and private equity investment firms. Read more

IP Scholars Question the Legality and Wisdom of Joint AG Proposal to Seize Remdesivir Patents

The following post comes from Colin Kreutzer, a 2E at Scalia Law and a Research Assistant at CPIP.

dictionary entry for the word "innovate"By Colin Kreutzer

While the vaccines are starting to roll out in the fight against COVID-19, the precise timelines for when they will be widely available continue to be uncertain. Read more

Professor Joanna Shepherd Explains Pharmaceutical Product Hopping in New CPIP Policy Brief

pharmaceuticalsCPIP has published a new policy brief by Joanna M. Shepherd, Vice Dean and Thomas Simmons Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. The brief, entitled The Legal and Industry Framework of Pharmaceutical Product Hopping and Considerations for Future Legislation, discusses the practice of so-called “product hopping,” where a pharmaceutical company turns its focus to newer versions of its existing drugs. Read more

(Patented) Life Begins at Forty: CPIP Celebrates the Ongoing Legacy of Diamond v. Chakrabarty

The following post comes from Colin Kreutzer, a rising 2E at Scalia Law and a Research Assistant at CPIP.

gloved hand assembling or dissembling a model of DNABy Colin Kreutzer

It’s been forty years since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of patentability for a GE scientist and the oil-eating bacterium he’d created, greatly expanding the scope of living matter that was eligible to be patented. Read more

Recent Developments in the Life Sciences: The Continuing Assault on Innovation by Antitrust Plaintiffs in Lantus

By Erika Lietzan

dictionary entry for the word "innovate"In February, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held, in a direct purchaser antitrust action, that an innovative pharmaceutical company marketing an injectable drug product had “improperly listed” in FDA’s Orange Book a patent claiming a mechanism used in the drug’s delivery device. Read more

IP Industries Step Up in This Time of Crisis

the word "inspiration" typed on a typewriterThe global COVID-19 pandemic has challenged multiple aspects of modern society in a short time. Health and public safety, education, commerce, research, arts, and even basic government functions have had to change dramatically in the space of a couple months. Some good news in all this is the response of many companies in the intellectual property (IP) industries: they are stepping up to make sure crucial information and materials are available to speed research and development (R&D) towards vaccines, therapeutics, and medical devices. Read more

New CPIP Policy Brief: Barnett on the End of Patent Groupthink

a hand reaching for a shining key hanging among dull keysIn a new CPIP policy brief entitled The End of Patent Groupthink, CPIP Senior Fellow for Innovation Policy Jonathan Barnett highlights some cracks that have emerged in the recent policy consensus that the U.S. patent system is “broken” and it is necessary to “fix” it. Read more

“No Combination Drug Patents Act” Stalls, but Threats to Innovation Remain

superimposed images from a chemistry labBy Kevin Madigan & Sean O’Connor

This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee was to mark up a bill limiting patent eligibility for combination drug patents—new forms, uses, and administrations of FDA approved medicines. While the impetus was to curb so-called “evergreening” of drug patents, the effect would have been to stifle life-saving therapeutic innovations. Read more