(PRWEB) November 25, 2013
Anticompetitive concerns continue to plague industries including smartphones, pharma and biotech. Amid those concerns, a new book by Professor Daryl Lim of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago sheds fresh light on the role of “patent misuse” in innovation and competition.
“One central criticism of patent misuse today is its lack of clarity,” Lim said. “Misuse exists at the intersection between two complex regimes. Patent misuse is a defense to patent infringement that courts have crafted to prevent abuse of patent rights. But it also influences and has been influenced in turn by developments in antitrust law.”
“Both innovation and competition take place in increasingly complex environments where a clear understanding of where illegality ends and legitimate corporate strategy begins is critical. But this has been very difficult to define operationally.”
To provide greater clarity, Lim undertook extensive research into both the case law and the underlying policies. He examined data from more than 60 years of case law, creating a dataset with more than 12,000 data points, capturing every significant aspect of the misuse doctrine.
To bring a real-world perspective, Lim also interviewed those who have or will be asked to deal with the abuse of patent rights in their careers, including senior judges, government officials, practitioners and academics.
“Their views were interesting and sometimes surprising,” Lim said. “Their participation greatly added to my study.”
The book – written for experts but accessible to laypersons – provides a rare combination of empirical, doctrinal and policy perspectives not often found in legal scholarship.
However, Lim says such scholarship is precisely what decision-makers in the public and private sectors want.
“Patent Misuse and Antitrust Law: Empirical, Doctrinal and Policy Perspectives,” is published by Edward Elgar Publishing and will be available in December. It is available for advance order on the publisher’s website, as well as on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
A book launch is scheduled for Feb. 20, 2014, at the John Marshall Law School.
ABOUT DARYL LIM
Daryl Lim teaches intellectual property law as well as antitrust law. His articles have been published in leading IP law reviews and books in the U.S, Europe, and Asia. He is the co-author of a forthcoming casebook by West Publishing in its Interactive Casebook Series. This year, he was appointed a peer reviewer for the Max Planck Institute’s International Review of IP and Competition Law (IIC), one of about 30 reviewers worldwide in recognition of his “knowledge and skill in the field.” His views on current intellectual property law developments have been featured in legal publications as well as mainstream media sources.