The Patent Crisis and How Courts Can Solve It

Patent law is crucial to encourage technological innovation. But as thepatent system currently stands, diverse industries from pharmaceuticals tosoftware to semiconductors are all governed by the same rules even thoughthey innovate very differently. The result is a crisis in the patentsystem, where patents calibrated to the needs of prescription drugs wreakhavoc on information technologies and vice versa. According to Dan L. Burkand Mark A. Lemley in this book from the University of Chicago Press,courts should use the tools the patent system already gives them to treatpatents in different industries differently. Industry tailoring is the onlyway to provide an appropriate level of incentive for each industry.