[Ip-health] KEI files brief in Bilski case, focusing on role of non-patent

[Malini Aisola]

http://keionline.org/node/634

KEI files brief in Bilski case, focusing on role of non-patent
mechanisms to stimulate innovation

By James Love

Malini Aisola has written some background on the Bilski case here [1].
Today KEI filed a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court
in the case. A copy of our brief as filed is available here [2].

This was the conclusion:

        CONCLUSION
        The patent system plays an important role in the economy, but
        patents are not the only instrument available to policy makers
        to stimulate or reward investments in the development of new
        products and services. In areas where patents are not available,
        relevant, or where they impose excessive costs on society,
        policy makers have ample options to fashion non-patent incentive
        mechanisms or subsidies. Patents should only granted and their
        rights extended and enforced in areas where the benefits of
        doing so exceed the social costs, and where no superior
        alternative mechanisms exist -- as the balance struck by the
        Constitutional Clause was intended to accomplish.

        The area of medical innovation is one of the most vexing areas
        of innovation policy. On the one hand, persuasive claims are
        made regarding the need to stimulate investments in new
        discoveries and technologies, including those relating to the
        interpretation of data. However, any measures that create legal
        barriers to the diagnosis or treatment of an illness, or to
        research to find new tools to combat illnesses, present enormous
        risks and costs to society. To the extent that patents are not
        available or enforced in a particularly area of medical care,
        policy makers have demonstrated keen insights into the many
        different ways that incentives can be fashioned, including
        methods that are less harmful to science and patient interests
        than legal monopolies on processes or uses of data.


Links:
[1] http://keionline.org/node/577
[2] http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/bilski_brief_as_filed
.pdf




--
Malini Aisola
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20009
malini.aisola@keionline.org|Tel: +1.202.332.2670|Fax: +1.202.332.2673