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The cost of vague patents

Nature volume 454, pages 164–165 (2008)Cite this article

Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk

  • James Bessen &
  • Michael J. Meurer
Princeton University Press: 2008. 352 pp. $29.95 £17.95069113491X 9780691134918 | ISBN: 0-691-13491-X

Adding fuel to the anti-patent fire, James Bessen and Michael Meurer argue in Patent Failure that US patents cost more than they should because their claims are too vague. Patent claims define the scope of a patented invention, and when they are unclear, competitors cannot determine whether or not they are infringing the patent and whether they should license or litigate.

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  1. Michael Gollin is a partner in the patent group at Venable LLP, 575 7th Street NW, Washington DC 20004, USA. He is author of Driving Innovation: Intellectual Property Strategies for a Dynamic World.,

    Michael Gollin

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  1. Michael Gollin
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Gollin, M. The cost of vague patents. Nature 454, 164–165 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/454164a

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