Lewis & Clark Law School Podcasts

2007 Fall Business Law Forum
2007 Fall Business Law Forum Agenda
October 5-6, 2007
2007 Fall Business Law Forum

This conference brings together scholars from law, economics, and psychology for an unprecedented interdisciplinary look at patent law’s nonobviousness doctrine. The nonobviousness requirement, unique to patent law, is the legal principle that reserves patent protection to technologically significant inventions; technologically trivial inventions, even if useful and new, are not patentable.

Our panelists look ahead, helping to shape the next decade of thinking about the nonobviousness principle in innovation law and policy, especially in light of the Supreme Court decision in KSR v. Teleflex.

Friday
Welcome and Introduction
Lisa LeSage, Associate Dean and Director of Business Law Programs
Joe Miller, Associate Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School

Morning Session I – Law
Gregory Mandel, The Nonobvious Problem
John Duffy, Racing, Timing, and the Patenting Standard
Rebecca Eisenberg, Pharma’s Nonobviousness Problem
Commenter: Rochelle Dreyfuss, Pauline Newman Professor of Law, New York University School of Law

Morning Session II – Economics
Suzanne Scotchmer, Nonobviousness, Options and the Scarcity of Ideas
Scott Stern, The Strategic Impact of Patent Office Standards
Vincenzo Denicolo, The Nonobviousness Requirement with Complementary Innovations
Commenter: Michael Katz, University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Buiness

Keynote Speaker
Kevin Rivette, Chairman of the USPTO Public Patent Advisory Committee

Afternoon Session I – Psychology
This segment is not available as a podcast.
Keith Sawyer, Associate Professor of Education, Washington University in St. Louis
Colleen Seifert, Now Why Didn’t I Think of That? The Cognitive Processes That Create the Obvious,
Steven Smith, Invisible Assumptions and the Unintentional Use of Knowledge and Experiences in Creative Cognition
Commenter: Janet Davidson, Associate Professor, Lewis & Clark College

Afternoon Session II – R & D Perspectives
Mark Blaxill, Senior Partner & Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group
Ian Harvey, Chairman, Intellectual Property Institute (UK)
Damon Matteo, Vice President for Intellectual Capital Management, Xerox PARC
Kevin Rivette, Chairman, USPTO Public Patent Advisory Committee
Moderator: Andy Culbert, Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Corp.

Saturday
Morning Session I – Law
Katherine Strandburg, Nonobviousness and Nerd Culture
Joseph Miller, Are Erroneous Patent Denials Better Than Erroneous Grants?
R. Polk Wagner, KSR, the Supreme Court and the Future of Patent Reform
Commenter: Robert Merges, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professor of Law and Technology; Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law – Boalt Hall

Roundtable Discussion

The program was held at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon on October 5-6, 2007.