When it comes to mistakes in the patent system, prior scholarship has typically presented a simple trade-off in which erroneous grants impose unnecessary ex post costs and erroneous denials reduce ex ante incentives.
March
2023
For very helpful comments on prior drafts, I thank Michael Abramowicz, Robert Brauneis, Margaret Brinig, Kevin Collins, John Duffy, Jeanne Fromer, Timothy Holbrook, Bruce Huber, Dmitry Karshtedt, Daniel Kelly, Bruce Kobayashi, Mark Lemley, Alexandra Levy, Jonathan Masur, Mark McKenna, Robert Merges, Lisa Ouellette, Jason Rantanen, Michael Risch, and Neel Sukhatme. I also thank Joseph Nugent for his excellent research assistance.
When it comes to mistakes in the patent system, prior scholarship has typically presented a simple trade-off in which erroneous grants impose unnecessary ex post costs and erroneous denials reduce ex ante incentives.