Reflections on Recent Developments of Statutory Public Interests in Patent-based Section 337 Proceedings (English article)
After the recent amendments in 2011 and 2013 of the Rules of Practice and Procedure by the International Trade Commission (ITC), at least from the procedural perspective, complainants presently have been burdened with an increased cost of collecting adequate information concerning statutory public interests even before putting forward the complaint, in order to justify the desired remedy by virtue of indicating no harm to statutory public interest. This reflects the ITC’s aspiration to make the final determination more precise and equitably justified on the analysis of public interest issues, so as to ultimately protect relevant domestic industries in terms of curbing intellectual property infringements in imports simultaneously without unduly sacrificing certain statutory public interest. Although the actual effect of the amendments in the long run still remains to be seen, the amendments possibly will generate some desirable results: first, from the perspective of law and economics, they are conducive to decrease the possible related adverse impacts in terms of negative externalities and increase economic efficiency; second, the amendments are also favourable to curb the existing ‘patent troll’ suits, although they are currently still not severe, by means of adequate considerations concerning statutory public interests, so as to optimally achieve the ultimate legislative goal of Section 337 and third, it is evident that an interest-balanced approach, in terms of more in-depth analysis of public interest, is better than the traditional all-or-nothing approach to some extent. Accordingly, a more equitable adjudication in terms of a better interests balance can be attained by utilizing the interest-balanced approach.
The Direct Costs from NPE Disputes
In the past, “non-practicing entities” (NPEs), popularly known as “patent trolls,” have helped small inventors profit from their inventions. Is this true today or, given the unprecedented levels of NPE litigation, do NPEs reduce innovation incentives? Using a survey of defendants and a database of litigation, this paper estimates the direct costs to defendants arising from NPE patent assertions. We estimate that firms accrued $29 billion of direct costs in 2011. Although large firms accrued over half of direct costs, most of the defendants were small or medium-sized firms. Moreover, an examination of publicly listed NPEs indicates that little of the direct costs represents a transfer to small inventors. This updated version of the paper includes a reply to critics.
Fascism in Britain: A History, 1918-1985
Tracing its origins from shortly after the World War I, this book presents a portrait of fascism in the 1930s. It reassesses Mosley's career, describes the reasons for internment in 1940 and the effect it had on leading fascists, exposes the famous Britons who subscribed to fascism, reveals the ominous re-emergence of the tradition after 1945, and explains its remarkable persistence into the l980s.