[EAS] Symposium on Patent Failure

[Peter J. Kindlmann]

Dear Colleagues -

The current (2008-1) issue of the "Technological Innovation and 
Intellectual Property" 
<http://www.researchoninnovation.org/WordPress/> newsletter is 
concerned with the research in a new book by James Bessen and Michael 
Meurer, "Patent Failure," published by Princeton University Press, 
2008.

TIIP (only a few issues per year) is recommended to all interested in 
the future of our broken patent system. Subscription information at 
the above URL.

     --PJK

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A Symposium on Patent Failure
<http://www.terry.uga.edu/~jlturner/PatentReformConference/index.html> 
will be held on Saturday, March 29 at the University of Georgia on a 
new book by James Bessen and Michael J. Meurer, "Patent Failure" 
<http://researchoninnovation.org/dopatentswork/> (Princeton 
University Press). The Symposium consists of panels of noted legal 
scholars, economists and industry representatives who will comment 
on, criticize, praise, and generally roast the authors and their 
arguments.

The Cost of Substandard Patents
<http://www.researchoninnovation.org/WordPress/?p=93>
In a bold and provocative paper George Ford, Thomas Koutsky, and 
Lawrence Spivak argue that bad patents cost the US $25.5 billion each 
year.

Software Patents and Early-Stage Firms
<http://www.researchoninnovation.org/WordPress/?p=92>
Iain Cockburn and Megan MacGarvie do a careful analysis of the effect 
of patents on firm entry and financing in the software industry.They 
find that the more patents held in a market, the less likely new 
firms are to enter and the greater the delays those firms face in 
getting financing.

Innovation and Sharing
<http://www.researchoninnovation.org/WordPress/?p=91>
Sharing of clinical data on medicines may be important for 
innovation. Harold DeMonaco, Ayfer Ali and Eric von Hippel found that 
59% of new therapies were discovered by field clinicians.