Innovation and Its Discontents (ebook)

Argumento de Innovation and Its Discontents (ebook)

"Adam Jaffe and Josh Lerner have given us a wonderfully timely book--and also one that is beautifully executed. If Congress is to reform the system, the public ought to understand its current failings."--Rochelle Dreyfuss, Michigan Law Review

"A lucid, entertaining and sobering look at the American patent system."--Hal R. Varian, New York Times

One of Economist's Best Books , Economics and Business Category for 2004

"This is a timely and concise book that presents a comprehensive and convincing argument about the not-so-explicit changes in U.S. patent law beginning in 1982, changes that the authors argue have broken a patent system that worked previously."--Zainub Verjee, Leonardo Reviews

"This book sounds an alarm bell that is hard to ignore since this is a policy area, which is very important for the national interests of the United States. The authors maintain that the present patent system in this country is profoundly flawed."--Giuseppe Ammendola, American Foreign Policy Interests

"An extraordinarily lucid and engaging exposition of our patent system: why we need it, where it came from, how it works, what is wrong with it, and how to fix it. Indispensable for anyone interested in the role of intellectual property rights and technological change in our economy. Whoever said economists cannot write well?"--Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University

"Jaffe and Lerner's arguments are persuasive and their recommendations sensible. The book makes a very significant contribution to the current debates on patent policy."--Bronwyn Hall, University of California, Berkeley

"This is a valuable and timely book by two highly regarded experts in the field. It is an extremely well-written and well argued work that shows how the patent system has evolved in disturbing ways over the past two decades."--Brian Kahin, University of Michigan

"Patents are at the heart of the process of economic growth, and the process is suffering from a powerful form of cardiac disease. This fascinating book provides an illuminating diagnosis as well as compelling therapy. Its findings have towering importance, not just for lawyers and economists, but for the future standard of living of us all."--Peter L. Bernstein, author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

"A disturbing analysis of how the patent system, the heart of the knowledge economy, is rotten. With plenty of examples, the authors explain how America's patent system has become slow and bureaucratic, awarding too many patents for the wrong sorts of things. As a result, it is a threat to this most innovative economy."--Economist

"The authors should be applauded for their straight-forward approach and their focus on definite practices such as the patent application process. With elucidating, often entertaining examples this book would be appropriate as supplemental text for students and scholars of intellectual property rights."--Erik N. Dean, Journal of Economic Issues0Preface ix
Introduction: They Fixed It, and Now It?s Broke 1
CHAPTER 1: Today?s Patent System at Work 25
CHAPTER 2: The Dark Side of Patents 56
CHAPTER 3: The Long Debate 78
CHAPTER 4: The Silent Revolution 96
CHAPTER 5: The Slow Starvation 127
CHAPTER 6: The Patent Reform Quagmire 151
CHAPTER 7: Innovation and Its Discontents 170
Notes 209
Index 229