The owner of an intellectual property right, whether a patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret or other right, has the exclusive right to exploit that right. Ownership of an IP right is thus the most effective and potent means for utilizing that right. But what does it mean to “own” an...

Over the past several years, there has been a surge in litigation over technical standards, standards-essential patents (SEPs), and the patent policies of standards development organizations (SDOs). While this litigation has fueled a cottage industry of commentary by economists, legal scholars,...

Technical standard setting, though conducted largely through private organizations, possesses many attributes of a public function. By and large, SDO policies operate effectively to enable competitors to collaborate to develop standards that produce network effects and yield significant social...

"Technical standards are ubiquitous in the modern networked economy. They allow products made and sold by different vendors to interoperate with little to no consumer effort and enable new market entrants to innovate on top of established technology platforms. This groundbreaking volume, edited...

Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (D.Mass 2) involves the alleged deception of a standards-development organization (SDO) by the holder of a patent essential to a standard relating to the manufacture of the drug enoxaparin. The SDO's rules regarding disclosure of...

These comments were submitted to the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in response to its request for comments on its Guide to Licensing Negotiations Involving Standard Essential Patents (Draft Mar. 9, 2018). These comments relate primarily to: (1) assertion of SEPs by Patent Assertion Entities, (2)...

The recent assertion of patents originally held by Theranos, the defunct blood analysis company whose founders are under federal indictment for fraud, highlights the existence of patents that claim non-existent and inoperative inventions. While such patents may ultimately be subject to validity...

The recent assertion of patents originally held by Theranos, the defunct blood analysis company whose founders are under federal indictment for fraud, highlights the existence of patents that might claim non-existent or inoperative inventions. While such patents may ultimately be subject to...