Congress's Patent Mistakes

Congress is preparing to enact far-reaching reforms of the patent system, and the stakes are high: Intellectual property in the U.S., the security of which relies upon the patent system, is worth more than $5 trillion today--roughly 40% of our annual GDP. Sweeping legislative change would, however, be a dangerous mistake.

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Claude Barfield is a resident scholar at AEI. John E. Calfee is a resident scholar at AEI.

About the Author

 

Claude
Barfield
  • Claude Barfield, a former consultant to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, researches international trade policy (including trade policy in China and East Asia), the World Trade Organization (WTO), intellectual property, and science and technology policy. His many books include Free Trade, Sovereignty, Democracy: The Future of the World Trade Organization (AEI Press, 2001), in which he identifies challenges to the WTO and to the future of trade liberalization.
  • Phone: 2028625879
    Email: cbarfield@aei.org

 

John E.
Calfee
  • Economist John E. Calfee (1941-2011) studied the pharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the economics of tobacco, tort liability, and patents. He previously worked at the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Economics. He had also taught marketing and consumer behavior at the business schools of the University of Maryland at College Park and Boston University. While Mr. Calfee's writings are mostly on pharmaceutical markets and FDA regulation, his academic articles and opinion pieces covered a variety of topics, from patent law and tort liability to advertising and consumer information. His books include Prices, Markets, and the Pharmaceutical Revolution (AEI Press, 2000) and Biotechnology and the Patent System (AEI Press, 2007). Mr. Calfee wrote regularly for AEI's Health Policy Outlook series. He testified before Congress and federal agencies on various topics, including alcohol advertising; biodefense vaccine research; international drug prices; and FDA oversight of drug safety.

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