E.D. Texas Venue Case Goes En Banc; AIPLA Amicus Brief
Rambus Jumps Up
Intramurals: The European Patent Divide
Recent Patent Law Job Postings on Patently-O
Disavowal of Claim Scope: CDS v. Dell
LinkedIn describes PTO Employees
Patent Troll Tracker & Cisco’s New Blog Policy
CAFC Again Vacates Preliminary Injunction: No Likelihood of Success
Courts Resist Using the Term Patent Troll
Oakley’s Sunglasses and Design Patents
Absolute Novelty, First-to-File, and Foreign Bias
Ex Parte Bilski: Briefing Round I
Patently-O Bits and Bytes No. 24
In Defiance of Kinik: 271(e)(1) Safeharbor Applies to ITC Action Against Importation of Product Made by Patented Process
Moving to First-to-File
Patently-O Bits and Bytes No. 23
The Costs and Benefits of Patents to Innovators
by James Bessen and Michael J. Meurer
Do patents encourage economic growth, stimulate R&D investment, or deliver wealth to innovators? In our previous post we reviewed the empirical research in economics and we could not find consistently positive evidence about the performance of patents.
In this post we narrow our focus. We ask whether the modern American patent system encourages innovation by large (publicly traded) American firms. We answer this question with empirical research that is presented in chapters 5 and 6 of our book Patent Failure. We find that the patent system discourages investment in innovation by the average publicly traded American firm. Although the patent system provides positive incentives in some industries like pharmaceuticals, it provides negative incentives in most industries. Further, the performance has deteriorated over time.
Our conclusion is based on separate estimates of the benefits and costs of patents to innovative firms. We use two different techniques to estimate the value of patents to their owners.