Journal article
LET THE GAMES BEGIN: INCENTIVES TO INNOVATION IN THE NEW ECONOMY OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Santa Clara Law Review, Vol.46, pp.307-957
01 Jan 2006
Abstract
I. Introduction Patent litigation is developing a troubling resemblance to a Las Vegas casino. Juries have awarded patentees damage amounts that far exceed the value of a patented invention. At the same time, courts have failed to define standards to align damages with the patentee's harm. As a result, the damages awarded for patent infringement far exceed the amount that the patent is worth. These circumstances create incentives for patentees to "game" the patent system by seeking large damages and settlement jackpots from those accused of infringement. Increasingly, so-called "patent trolls" assert patent infringement allegations, seeking to turn ideas into cold hard cash. All the while, the value of a patent bears an increasingly distant relationship to the damages awarded in patent litigation for use of the patented invention. Patents are remarkably flexible tools that foster competition by creating incentives to innovate. Essentially, patents reward innovators by granting a patentee the right to exclude others from practicing the patented invention. 1 Innovators utilize this government-granted right to prevent competitors from using an inventor's idea for the patent term. 2 However, over the past several years, patentees have begun to use patents not only to exclude others from practicing the patentee's invention, but also as a source of revenue. A number of organizations that license, but do not commercialize patents, have sprung up with the sole purpose of asserting patents against potential infringers. 3 Established companies have also begun "monetizing" existing patent ...
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Details
- Title
- LET THE GAMES BEGIN: INCENTIVES TO INNOVATION IN THE NEW ECONOMY OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
- Creators
- Amy L. Landers
- Publication Details
- Santa Clara Law Review, Vol.46, pp.307-957
- Publisher
- School of Law, Santa Clara University Santa Clara Law Review
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Identifiers
- 991021866426004721