Presenting a wide range of empirical evidence from history, law, and economics, this text is an authoritative and comprehensive look at the economic performance of patents. It asks whether patents work well as property rights, and, if not, what institutional and legal reforms are necessary to make the patent system more effective.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-314) and index.
Formatted Contents Note
1. The argument in brief; 2. Why property rights work, how property rights fail; 3. If you can't tell the boundaries, then it ain't property; 4. Survey of empirical research: do patents perform like property? 5. What are U.S. patents worth to their owners? 6. The cost of disputes; 7. How important is the failure of patent notice? 8. Small inventors; 9. Abstract patents and software; 10. Making patents work as property; 11. Reforms to improve notice; 12. A glance forward.