Across Five Eras: Patent Validity and Infringement in United States Courts, 1929-2006
44 Pages
Posted: 5 Jun 2013
Last revised: 12 Apr 2016
Cleveland State University
University of Georgia - C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business - Department of Economics
Date Written: March 5, 2016
Abstract
We use structural break analysis to estimate rates of patent validity and infringement in decisions on the merits in United States Courts over 1929-2006. We separately estimate these rates for District Court and Appeals Court decisions. We find multiple structural breaks in both validity and infringement, and the breaks do not coincide. The rate of validity falls around 1939 and rises around 1983, while the rate of infringement rises around 1950 and falls around 1991. We argue that these breaks, and the variation across the implied five ``eras" of decision standards, reflect political and legal innovations.
Keywords: patents, litigation, infringement, validity
JEL Classification: K2, K4
Suggested Citation:
Suggested Citation
Henry, Matthew and Turner, John L., Across Five Eras: Patent Validity and Infringement in United States Courts, 1929-2006 (March 5, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2274383 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2274383
