Patent Law

IAM features Bessen/Meurer (again)

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

The new issue of IAM is now available on-line to the magazine?s subscribers. The cover story focuses on Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk. Written by James Bessen and Michael Meurer, the book has attracted a great deal of attention across the world because of its central message; namely, that the US patent system is failing to incentivise innovation and, in fact, is actually acting as a disincentive to the inventive process. While many have praised Bessen and Meurer?s work, others have been fiercely critical; claiming that the two authors fail to understand how patents work and that because of this the book is fundamentally flawed. We decided to put Bessen and Meurer in contact with one of their critics, Silicon Valley-based lawyer Craig Opperman. The result was a fascinating discussion.

This looks like more hoopla to benefit both Bessen/Meurer and IAM. For discussion of previous pyrotechnics, see for example
Now There You Go Again, which concludes:

And, if you were wondering, the ?endorsements? of the book on the Princeton webpage are by Lemley, Maskin, and Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco Systems (the superior of Rick Frenkel, the formerly anonymous ?patent troll tracker.?)

Bessen lives in the fantasy world of Quillen and Webster; 'nuff said.

See also IPBiz post of MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2008: Wegner on Bessen/Meurer in LA Times

Full post as published by IPBiz on October 07, 2008 (boomark / email).