We’re joined by a scholar of patent law, administrative law, and many other things, Jonathan Masur. Jonathan does not think the patent office has done a very good job of conducting cost-benefit analyses of various rules and procedures for issuing, maintaining, and challenging patents. Supposing patents should exist at all - can you tell who writes these show notes? - how should we account for the effects of the way we administer the system? These questions lead us to some basic conversation about cost-benefit analysis and and the value of patents. And we wind up asking simple questions, like what a cost is.

This show’s links:

Jonathan Masur’s faculty profile and writing
Jonathan Masur, CBA at the PTO
Jonathan Masur and Eric Posner, Unquantified Benefits and the Problem of Regulation Under Uncertainty
Cuozzo Speed Technologies v. Lee
Patent and Trademark Office, Changes to Implement Inter Partes Review Proceedings, Post-Grant Review Proceedings (at 48720-48722)
Patent and Trademark Office, Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees in accordance with Section 10 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act
Paul Heald, A Transaction Cost Theory of Patent Law

Special Guest: Jonathan Masur.