More Classic Patent Scholarship

It has been a while since the last update to my Classic Patent Scholarship, so I thought I would add some works that I view as "classics" but that haven't made it onto the list yet.

First, while the body of "Beyond IP" scholarship is blossoming (see, e.g., the two Yale ISP conferences, where I got to present work with Daniel Hemel), there is a long history of work on innovation incentives beyond patents. For example, Machlup and Penrose (already on the list of classics) describe how the patents-vs-prizes debate dates back to at least the 19th century. Here are two works I would add to the classics list:

• Brian D. Wright, The Economics of Invention Incentives: Patents, Prizes, and Research Contracts, 73 Am. Econ. Rev. 691 (1983).
• Michael Kremer, Patent Buyouts: A Mechanism for Encouraging Innovation, 113 Q.J. Econ. 1137 (1998).

Other important works in this genre, which don't quite fit under my pre-2000 "classic" bar, include Frischmann 2000, Shavell & van Ypersele 2001, Gallini & Scotchmer 2002, and Abramowicz 2003.

As a former grant-funded university researcher (during my physics grad school days), I'm particularly interested in the role of grants and other direct funding as a non-patent incentive, and their overlap with patents through the Bayh–Dole Act. Here are some additional classics in this area:

• Rebecca S. Eisenberg, Proprietary Rights and the Norms of Science in Biotechnology Research, 97 Yale L.J. 177 (1987).
• Rebecca S. Eisenberg, Public Research and Private Development: Patents and Technology Transfer in Government-Sponsored Research, 82 Va. L. Rev. 1663 (1996).
• Arti Kaur Rai, Regulating Scientific Research: Intellectual Property Rights and the Norms of Science, 94 Nw. U. L. Rev. 77 (1999).
• David C. Mowery, Richard R. Nelson, Bhaven N. Sampat & Arvids A. Ziedonis, The Effects of the Bayh-Dole Act on U.S. University Research and Technology Transfer, in Industrializing Knowledge 269 (Lewis M. Branscomb et al. eds., 1999).

Finally, there is now a long strand of literature on the Federal Circuit as an institution and the value of specialized patent adjudication; anyone interested in this area should start with the work of Rochelle Dreyfuss:

• Rochelle Cooper Dreyfuss, The Federal Circuit: A Case Study in Specialized Courts, 64 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1 (1989).

For other classics—including more extended commentary on them by prominent patent law professors—see the Classic Patent Scholarship page. And if you have suggestions of other pre-2000 works that should be on the list, please add them to the comments on send me an email!