Of Smart Phone Wars and Software Patents
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 27,
no. 1, Winter 2013
(pp. 67-86)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Among the main criticisms currently confronting the US Patent and Trademark Office are concerns about software patents and what role they play in the web of litigation now proceeding in the smart phone industry. We will examine the evidence on the litigation and the treatment by the Patent Office of patents that include software elements. We present specific empirical evidence regarding the examination by the Patent Office of software patents, their validity, and their role in the smart phone wars. More broadly, this article discusses the competing values at work in the patent system and how the system has dealt with disputes that, like the smart phone wars, routinely erupt over time, in fact dating back to the very founding of the United States. The article concludes with an outlook for systematic policymaking within the patent system in the wake of major recent legislative and administrative reforms. Principally, the article highlights how the US Patent Office acts responsibly when it engages constructively with principled criticisms and calls for reform, as it has during the passage and now implementation of the landmark Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011.Citation
Graham, Stuart, and Saurabh Vishnubhakat. 2013. "Of Smart Phone Wars and Software Patents." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27 (1): 67-86. DOI: 10.1257/jep.27.1.67Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- K11 Property Law
- L63 Microelectronics; Computers; Communications Equipment
- L86 Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
- O31 Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
- O34 Intellectual Property Rights
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