PatCon: The Annual Patent Conference
Friday-Saturday, April 14-15, 2023
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, 375 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611
Overview
The Patent Conference ("PatCon") is an interdisciplinary forum where scholars from the fields of law, economics, business, public health, history & philosophy of science, engineering, and other disciplines can share their research. In addition, PatCon stands out in its commitment to including judges, USPTO personnel, and members of industry in order to encourage applications of scholarship in the wider world.
There is no registration fee to attend PatCon. Conference participants must pay their own travel and lodging, but all meals will be provided gratis during the conference.
Conference attendance is by invitation only.
Abstracts
Abstract List (pdf), alphabetically by last name
Consolidated file of Abstracts (pdf)
Schedule
Friday, April 14, 2023
8:00-9:00 a.m. — Breakfast - Lowden Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 117)
9:00-9:15 a.m. — Welcome Remarks - Associate Dean of Research & Intellectual Life Paul Gowder and
co-hosts Laura Pedraza - Farina and David Schwartz. - Lincoln Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 104)
9:15-10:15 a.m. — Opening Panel - Lincoln Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 104)
Views on Innovation from Outside of Legal Academia
Moderated by Laura Pedraza-Fariña
10:15-10:30 a.m. — Coffee break
10:35-11:55 a.m. — Session 1
Panel IA: Pharmaceutical Patents - Hurd Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 310)
- Jacob Sherkow, Infringement by Label
- Shine Tu, The Long CON: An Empirical Analysis of Pharmaceutical Patent Thickets
- Bernard Chao, USPTO's Lax Policy Leads To Biologic Formulation Thicket
- Uri Hacohen, Autumn Is Coming: A Novel Liability Theory That May Kill Pharmaceutical Evergreening
Panel IB: The Patenting Process - Hoyne Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 317)
- Neel Sukhatme, Unpacking Provisional Patent Applications
- Richard Gruner, Seeing Innovation Differently: Scope and Meaning of Divergences in Examiner and Applicant Patent Citations
- Chris Cotropia, Faster, Cheaper, and Better Patenting, co-authored with Colleen Chien
- Ofer Tur-Sinai, Interconnected Patent Systems: Patent Term Extensions as a Case Study
12:00-1:00 p.m. — Lunch - Lowden Hall (Levy Mayer, LM117)
1:00-2:00 p.m. — Session II
Panel IIA: Patent Litigation I - Hurd Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 310)
- Josh Sarnoff, Discussion of Amicus brief filed in Amgen v. Sanofi
- Amy Semet, An Empirical Examination of Venue in Patent Law Cases
- Saurabh Vishnubhakat, Secret Design Litigation
Panel IIB: Patents and Artificial Intelligence I - Hoyne Hall (Levy Mayer, LM317)
- Dan Burk, Causation and Conception in American Inventorship (via Zoom)
- John Villasenor, Reconceptualizing Conception: Making Room for Artificial Intelligence Inventions
- Brenda Reddix-Smalls, What Is the Metaverse? Who Dat? What Is Its’ Relationship to Intellectual Property?
2:00-3:00 p.m. — Session III
Panel IIIA: Patent History - Hurg Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 310)
- Camilla Hrdy, Patent Law Origins of Science Fiction
- Christopher Beauchamp, American Patent Law's American Framing
- Victor Van de Wiele, Biologic Patent Challenges under the America Invents Act from 2012-2022
Panel IIIB: Patents and Artificial Intelligence II - Hoyne Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 317)
- Yuan Hao, The Rise of "Centaur" Inventors: How Patent Law Should Adapt to the Challenge to Inventorship
Doctrine by Human-AI Inventing Synergies - Liza Vertinsky, Will Generative AI Change Patent Law?
- Naama Daniel, Registering AI-Generated Patents: A Revolution in Distributive Justice?
3:00-3:20 p.m. — Coffee break - Lowden Hall (Levy Mayer, LM117)
3:20-4:40 p.m. — Session IV
Panel IVA: Patents and Innovation Policy I - Hurd Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 310)
- Lucy Xiaolu Wang, Is Grass Greener in the Gray Zone? Legalization and Innovation in the Cannabis Market
- Andrew Torrance, Novelty Does Not Mean Importance: An Empirical Comparison of Influence in Consolidating and Disruptive Patents
- James Hicks, Do Patents Drive Investment in Capital?
- Raymond Robertson, Contraband Microchips - Patent Data, Semiconductors, and Sanctions
Panel IVB: Patent Doctrine - Hoyne Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 317)
- Norman Siebrasse, Patent Scope and Foreseeable After-Arising Technology: Regeneron v Kymab
- Jonathan Masur, Real-World Prior Art
- Jay Thomas, The Scope of the Prior Art
- Sepehr Shahshahani, Patent Law’s Abstract-Ideas Problem
4:50-5:30 — Award Presentation - Lincoln Hall (Levy Mayer, LM 104)
Lifetime Achievement Award to Rochelle Dreyfuss
with speakers Graeme Dinwoodie and Michael Burstein
Sponsored by PatentVector, LLC
7:00 p.m. — Dinner
Saturday, April 15, 2023
8:45-9:30 a.m. — Breakfast - Thorne Lobby - Rubloff 135
9:30-10:00 a.m. — Panel celebrating and remembering Dmitry Karshstedt (Neel Sukhatme, Andrew Torrance) - Rubloff, RB 175
10:00-10:30 a.m. — Coffee break
10:30-11:50 a.m. — Session V
Panel VA: Patent Theory - Rubloff, RB 175
- Greg Reilly, Noisy Patent Signals
- Lucas Osborn, Pluralizing the PHOSITA in Patent Law
- David Olson, What's the Use of Utility?
- Michael Andrews, Legal Protection and Patent Disclosure
Panel VB: Patents and Innovation Policy II - Rubloff, RB 180
- Andrew Morriss, Patent Data as a Means of Evaluating Industrial Policy: Solar, Wind, and Fracking
- Peter Lee, An Organizational Theory of International Technology Transfer
- Christa Laser, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and NFTs
- Jesse Thomas, Patent Data as a Window to Tomorrow: Leveraging Information Networks for Data-Driven Insights Into Innovation
11:50-12:50 p.m. — Lunch - Thorne Lobby, Rubloff 135
12:50-1:50 p.m. — Session VI
Panel VIA: Patent Litigation II - Rubloff, RB 175
- Jason Rantanen, Patents at the Federal Circuit
- Lorelei Ritchie, Reserving the Right to Invent
- Paul Gugliuzza, Certifying Questions in Patent Cases
Panel VIB: Diversity and Inclusion in the Patent System - Rubloff, RB 180
- Jordi Goodman, Strength in Numbers: Analyzing Group Dynamics of the Patent Gap
- Andrew Toole, Closing the gender gap in patenting: Evidence from a randomized control trial at the USPTO
- Colleen Chien, Organizational Barriers to Patenting: Evidence from Engineers
2:00-3:00 p.m. — Session VII
Panel VIIA: Patent Institutions - Rubloff, RB175
- Jeremy Bock, The Federal Circuit’s Experimental Prism
- Jonas Anderson, The Rise of the Super Judges: the Puzzle of Patent Trial Specialization
Panel VIIB: Patent Institutions - Rubloff, RB 180
- Jason Reinecke, Ideological Decisionmaking in Patent Cases at the Federal Circuit
- Laura Pedraza-Fariña and Alvaro Cure-Dominguez, Misaligned Private-Public Interests in Administrative Patent Litigation
- David Schwartz, The Gender Gap in Patent Inventorship
3:00 p.m. — Adjourn
Conference Organizers
David Schwartz and Laura Pedraza-Fariña
Hotels
Warwick Allerton
701 N Michigan Ave