Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Current State of Patents and Patent Law

Imagine a "who's who" list of patent scholars, practitioners, in-house counsel, government officials, IP brokers and policy makers - who were all placed in a single room with a microphone for 6 full days to speak individually about their experiences and opinions on various aspects of patent law. A transcript of the speeches/discussions would surely be a valuable asset to anyone looking to learn from the practices and observations of others.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who recently completed a whirlwind tour of public hearings in California and Washington DC has now begun publishing transcripts of these meetings and has made many of them available, along with the presentation material provided with each session. While some of the transcripts are missing from the FTC site, the 271 Blog has done some sleuthing and has located copies elsewhere, with the exception of the May 4-5 hearings.


FTC HEARING ON THE EVOLVING IP MARKETPLACE


DECEMBER 5th (2008) HEARING
Panel 1: Developing Business Models
Panel 2: Recent and Proposed Changes in Remedies Law
Panel 3: Legal Doctrines That Affect the Value and Licensing of Patents

TRANSCRIPT (link)

Panelist Presentations:
• Thomas Cotter, Remedies for Patent Infringement: Theory and Practice
• Peter N. Detkin, To Promote the Progress…of Useful Arts: Investing in Invention
• Q. Todd Dickinson, Federal Trade Commission Workshop: Recent and Proposed Changes in Remedies Law
• Brian Kahin, The Patent Ecosystem in IT: Business Practice and Arbitrage [Written Version]
• Daniel P. McCurdy, Unique Operating Companies Involved in Patent Litigation with NPEs; Patent Litigation Involving NPEs and Operating Companies
• Roderick R. McKelvie, Seagate Plus One: How the District Courts are Implementing Seagate; Seagate Plus One (Article)
• Joseph Scott Miller, Testimony of Professor Joseph Scott Miller, Lewis & Clark Law School - Legal Doctrines That Affect the Value and Licensing of Patents (Panel 3)
• Raymond Millien, The IP Marketplace Players
• John A. Squires, Patent Remedies: Can Quanta Finish What eBay Started? [Written Version]
• Jay Thomas, Patent Damages: Principles and Current Problems
• Duane R. Valz, Yahoo! Inc- FTC Hearing on The Evolving IP Marketplace
• Mallun Yen, Cisco Systems, Inc. FTC Hearing on the Evolving IP Marketplace [Written Version]

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FEBRUARY 11th - 12th HEARING, WASHINGTON DC
February 11 - The Evolution of Remedies (Damages)
Panel 1: Patent Damages
Panel 2: Industry Roundtable discussion


TRANSCRIPT (link)


February 12 - The Evolution of Remedies (Damages)
Panel 1: Changes in Injunction Law
Panel 2: Industry Roundtable discussion

TRANSCRIPT (link)

Panelist Presentations:
• Paul Janicke, Patent Damages
• Aron Levko, 2009 Patent Damages Study - Preliminary Results
• Bryan P. Lord, Hearing on Patent Damages
• Steve Malin, Empirical Analysis Of Permanent Injunction Decisions Following eBay
• Marian Underweiser, Towards an Efficient Market for Innovation
• Donald R. Ware, Introductory Remarks and Presentation

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MARCH 18th - 19th HEARING, WASHINGTON DC

March 18 - Industry Roundtables
Panel 1: Universities and Entrepreneurs
Panel 2: The IT and Electronic Industries
Panel 3: Manufacturing and Diversified Companies
Panel 4: Life Sciences Industries


TRANSCRIPTS: Session 1 (link), Session 2 (link), Session 3 (link), Session 4 (link)


March 19 - The Operation of IP Markets
Panel 1: Economic Perspectives on IP and Technology Markets
Panel 2: Fulfilling the Patent System's Public Notice Function


TRANSCRIPTS: Session 1 (link), Session 2 (link), Session 3 (link)


Panelist Presentations:
• Ashish Arora, Markets for Technology and the Division of Innovative Labor: A View from the Ivory Tower
• James Bessen, Patent Notice and Markets for Technology
• Robert Hunt, The Federal Trade Commission’s Hearing on “The Evolving IP Marketplace”
• Ron D. Katznelson, “The Evolving IP Marketplace” Hearings on The Operation of IP Markets
• F. Scott Kieff, The Importance of Marinating on Patents
• Scott Stern, The Impact of the Patent System on the Market for Technology

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APRIL 17th HEARING, WASHINGTON DC

Panel 1: Roundtable Discussion
Panel 2: Recent Scholarship in Patent Markets

TRANSCRIPTS: Session 1 (link), Session 2 (link), Session 3 (link)

Panelist Presentations
• Iain M. Cockburn, Licensing: a view from the trenches (Selected findings from the LES Foundation Surveys)
• Stuart Graham, Patents and Technology Markets: How is the market operating, and can it be improved?
• James E. Malackowski, FTC Hearings on Developing Business Models and a National IP Economic Infrastructure
• Mark A. Lemley, Ignoring Patents; How To Make a Patent Market
• R. Polk Wagner, Patent Portfolios [Written]; Understanding Patent Quality Mechanisms

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MAY 4th-5th HEARING, BERKELEY, CA
May 4 - IP Marketplaces
Panel 1: The IP Marketplace in the Life Sciences Industries
Panel 2: The IP Marketplace in the IT Industry
Panel 3: Markets for IP and Technology: Academic Perspectives

May 5 - Notice and Remedies
Panel 1: The Notice Function of Patents
Panel 2: Patent Remedies

(Transcripts & Presentations not currently available)

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Anyone looking to get more insight on current patent issues and read first-hand accounts from industry and academic leaders are strongly advised to read through the materials. It's a lot of information - a few hundred pages in transcript material alone - but is well worth the read.

The FTC page for these hearings may be viewed here (link), which contains much of the aforementioned material, with the exception of some of the transcripts listed above.