The Patent Crisis and How the Courts Can Solve It

Patent law encourages technological innovation. But as the patent system currently stands, diverse industries, from pharmaceuticals to software to semiconductors, are all governed by the same rules even though they innovate very differently. The result is a crisis in the patent system, where patents calibrated to the needs of prescription drugs wreak havoc on information technologies and vice versa. In "The Patent Crisis and How the Courts Can Solve It", Dan L. Burk and Mark A. Lemley illustrate the barriers to innovation created by such catchall standards, and argue that courts should use legal tools already present in the patent statute to suit the needs of various industries.