Categories: Business, Corporate, Commercial Law Economic Regulation
Instructor(s) Carstensen, Peter
Sustaining Economic Growth and Innovation: the Roles of Antitrust and Intellectual “Property”
A central force in the growth of the American economy over the last 200 years has come from the development of new products, new methods of distribution, and other innovations. The law provides specific protections via patent and copyright for certain kinds of innovations. At the same time, antitrust law seeks to preserve and promote competition in the marketplace. At times, antitrust has focused only on short term price competition but at other times it has sought to advance innovation and market dynamics. Either way, there is often a strong tension between antitrust law and the rights granted to patent or copyright holders. This seminar will focus on the legal, economic and policy issues that result from this tension.
This will be a research and writing seminar in which participants will undertake a focused investigation of a topic or issue concerning the interaction of competition law and policy with patent and copyright law. The result will be a substantial paper (usually 45 or more pages). In the past several of the papers done for this seminar have resulted in published articles.
The first part of the seminar will focus on ensuring that all participants have a shared understanding of the issues surrounding these issues and are equipped to do individual research projects. I am currently investigating an “on-line” open source “book” to provide the basic material for our initial discussion. The last third of the semester will be devoted to presentations of first drafts of the resulting papers. Each paper will get individual comments prior to its author preparing a final version. Students who have had antitrust law are encouraged to enroll. Other students with backgrounds or significant interest in patent, copyright and related areas are welcome. Consent of instructor required for any student who has not had the antitrust course. My office is 7101, my phone is 263-7416 and my email is pccarste@wisc.edu.
