August 31, 2020

tl;dr - Do injunctions for patents promote or impede innovation?

Julian Morris & Dirk Auer

Over the past 15 years, court decisions have weakened patent protections in the US. While some academics support such weakening, the evidence suggests that it may be having a detrimental effect on innovation.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

August 11, 2020

The Deterioration of Appropriate Remedies in Patent Disputes

Geoffrey A. Manne & Kristian Stout & Julian Morris & Dirk Auer

Property rights are an essential economic institution. As the great UCLA economist Harold Demsetz famously argued, property rights spur specialization, investment, and competition, which in turn increase productivity, innovation, and wealth throughout the economy.

Intellectual Property

September 3, 2019

The District Court’s FTC v. Qualcomm Decision Rests on Impermissible Inferences and Should Be Reversed

Geoffrey A. Manne & Ben Sperry

Contrary to established Supreme Court precedent, the district court’s decision relies on mere inferences to establish anticompetitive effect. The decision, if it stands, would render a wide range of potentially procompetitive conduct presumptively illegal and thus harm consumer welfare.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

August 28, 2019

In FTC v. Qualcomm, Judge Koh Gets Lost in the Weeds

Dirk Auer

TOTM: The following is the eighth in a series of posts by TOTM guests and authors on the FTC v. Qualcomm case recently decided by Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California. The blog post is based on a forthcoming paper regarding patent holdup, co-authored by Dirk Auer and Julian Morris.

Intellectual Property

August 7, 2019

Governing the Patent Commons

Dirk Auer & Julian Morris

We suggest that antitrust authorities and courts should draw inspiration from acclaimed scholarship regarding both the evolution of cooperation and the management of common-pool resources.

Intellectual Property

May 13, 2019

An Evidentiary Cornerstone of the FTC’s Antitrust Case Against Qualcomm May Have Rested on Manipulated Data

Geoffrey A. Manne

The courtroom trial in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) antitrust case against Qualcomm ended in January with a promise from the judge in the case, Judge Lucy Koh, to issue a ruling as quickly as possible — caveated by her acknowledgement that the case is complicated and the evidence voluminous.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

November 12, 2018

A brief overview of the draft CWA GUIDELINES on licensing of SEPs for 5G and IoT

Natasha Nayak

An important but unheralded announcement was made on October 10, 2018: The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) released a draft CEN CENELAC Workshop Agreement (CWA) on the licensing of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) for 5G/Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Innovation & The New Economy

October 30, 2018

UK COURT OF APPEAL UPHOLDS FRAND INJUNCTION

Natasha Nayak

Last week, the UK Court of Appeal upheld the findings of the High Court in an important case regarding standard essential patents (SEPs).

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

May 9, 2017

Assessment of Procompetitive Effects of Organizational Restructuring in Ag-Biotech

Geoffrey A. Manne & Allen Gibby

The agriculture sector has seen significant technological innovation and organizational change over the last two decades, leading to increases in both farm productivity and profitability.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection