By Jason Rantanen
I’m thrilled to announce the publication of the articles from the Iowa Law Review’s symposium, Administering Patent Law. (Although Chris Walker beat me to the punch by a mile.) It’s a terrific group of articles that focus on issues at the intersection of patent law and administrative law. Here’s the abstract of my introduction to the issue:
Ten years ago, few people—with the exception of a handful of visionary academics—spent much time thinking about the significance of administrative law to the patent system. Today, administrative law issues pervade the patent system, from examiners and patent judges up to the United States Supreme Court. At the same time, modern administrative law itself faces a series of challenges that call into question its fundamental premises, such as the degree of deference that courts should grant agencies and the amount of political control that is constitutionally permissible or required. What does all this mean for the future of patent law?
Thanks to the support of the David F. Hellwege fund at the Iowa Law School Foundation, this issue of the Iowa Law Review contains an amazing array of scholarship on these topics from some of today’s brightest and most prominent patent law thinkers.
And the articles themselves:
Administering Patent Law, Jason Rantanen
Rigorous Policy Pilots: Experimentation in the Administration of the Law, Colleen V. Chien
Reasoned Decisionmaking vs. Rational Ignorance at the Patent Office, John F. Duffy
A Functional Approach to Judicial Review of PTAB Rulings on Mixed Questions of Law and Fact, Rebecca S. Eisenberg
Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s Consistency-Enhancing Function, Michael D. Frakes & Melissa F. Wasserman
PTO Panel Stacking: Unblessed by the Federal Circuit and Likely Unlawful, John M. Golden
Elite Patent Law, Paul R. Gugliuzza
Patent Court Specialization, Sapna Kumar
Institutional Design and the Nature of Patents, Jonathan S. Masur
The Hamiltonian Origins of the U.S. Patent System, and Why They Matter Today, Robert P. Merges
Statutes, Common Law Rights, and the Mistaken Classification of Patents as Public Rights, Adam Mossoff
Machine Learning at the Patent Office: Lessons for Patents and Administrative Law, Arti K. Rai
Renewed Efficiency in Administrative Patent Revocation, Saurabh Vishnubhakat
Constitutional Tensions in Agency Adjudication, Christopher J. Walker
Prior Art in Inter Partes Review, Stephen Yelderman
All of the articles are available through direct links above. If you would like a physical copy of the issue, the Iowa Law Review editors have told me that you should contact the printer at on.demand@christensen.com and request a copy of Volume 104, Issue 5. I’m not sure what the exact price is, but it’s likely be about $30 including shipping. (The whole volume is $53).