Imperial B Hilton San Francisco and Towers Ballroom Level
Joint Program of Sections on Intellectual Property Law and Law and Economics Martin J. Adelman, The George Washington University, and Chair and Program Chair, Section on Intellectual Property Law Jeffrey N. Gordon, Columbia University, and Chair, Section on Law and Economics
New Thinking in the Economics of the Patent System
Moderator:
Martin J. Adelman, The George Washington University
Speakers:
Mark Schankerman, Professor, Department of Economics, London School of Economics, London, England Suzanne Scotchmer, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Legal academics have recently begun to focus considerable attention on the role of the patent system in modern economies as courses in patent law move into the mainstream in many American law schools. This development has been fueled by the rapid growth in the number of patent applications filed in the major patent offices of the world as well as patent infringement complaints. By way of contrast, economists have had a long-standing interest in patent systems, an interest that has increased in the last few years. This program will examine the recent work by economists to see whether the modern economists writing about patent systems are simply rediscovering what economists of another generation already knew or are adding in a substantial way to an understanding of the role of patent systems in modern economies. The speakers are two leading economists who have published many papers dealing with patents including jointly authored papers. Professor Schankerman, will focus on empirical work. Professor Scotchmer will focus on recent theoretical work. In addition, each of them will suggest areas for future research.