Papers by Katherine Strandburg
The 8th International Conference on Knowledge Management in Organizations, 2021
Comments on Designing the Microbial Research Commons: Digital Knowledge Resources
Intellectual Property: Other eJournal, 2018
This chapter provides an introduction to and overview of the knowledge commons research framework... more This chapter provides an introduction to and overview of the knowledge commons research framework. Knowledge commons refers to an institutional approach (commons) to governing the production, use, management, and/or preservation of a particular type of resource (knowledge). The research framework supplies a template for interrogating the details of knowledge commons institutions on a case study basis, generating qualitative data that may be used to support comparative analysis.
On October 26, 2012, the University of Akron School of Law’s Center for Intellectual Property and... more On October 26, 2012, the University of Akron School of Law’s Center for Intellectual Property and Technology hosted its Sixth Annual IP Scholars Forum. In attendance were thirteen legal scholars with expertise and an interest in IP and public health who met to discuss problems and potential solutions at the intersection of these fields. This report summarizes this discussion by describing the problems raised, areas of agreement and disagreement between the participants, suggestions and solutions made by participants and the subsequent evaluations of these suggestions and solutions. Led by the moderator, participants at the Forum focused generally on three broad questions. First, are there alternatives to either the patent system or specific patent doctrines that can provide or help provide sufficient incentives for health-related innovation? Second, is health information being used proprietarily and if so, is this type of protection appropriate? Third, does IP conflict with other no...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013
Physicians may contribute directly to the innovation process by inventing medical devices themsel... more Physicians may contribute directly to the innovation process by inventing medical devices themselves. This kind of 'user innovation' has been documented in diverse settings. .. ."); Eric Von Hippel, The Dominant Role of Users in the Scientific Instrument Innovation Process, 5 RES POL'Y 212, 231 (1976) (suggesting that user innovation is responsible for "medical and dental innovations (e.g. new dental equipment is usually invented, first used and perhaps discussed in journals by dentists prior to commercial manufacture being undertaken by a dental equipment firm)");
Physical Review Letters, 1991
Diverse cellular systems evolve to remarkably similar stationary states. We therefore have studie... more Diverse cellular systems evolve to remarkably similar stationary states. We therefore have studied and simulated a purely topological model. We use a maximum entropy argument to predict that the average number of l-sided cells adjacent to an n-sided cell, M l (n), will be linear in n. One consequence is the empirically observed linearity of the total number of edges of cells adjacent to an n-sided cell, known as the Aboav-Weaire law. The prevailing justification of that law is shown to be incorrect, and thus the apparently universal experimental slope of ~5 remains unexplained. Soap bubbles, polycrystalline grain mosaics and biological tissues are natural examples of random, space-filling cellular networks. Despite length scales spanning geology 1 , metallurgy 2 , and biology 3 , cellular networks have similar structure and evolve to a steady state, characterized by a scaling (stationary) distribution of cell sizes, shapes, and correlations. The similarity of the scaling state across systems molded by different physical forces has led many workers to seek an explanation independent of the driving forces 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Our purpose in this paper is to explore maximum entropy as an explanation for the similarity of many physical cellular networks once they have attained the scaling state. Among the properties of the scaling state, the probability P n of cells with n sides is the most frequently measured in experimental systems. However the best-obeyed empirical regularity pertains to two-cell correlations. The Aboav-Weaire law 2, 9, 10 states that on average the sum of the number of sides of the cells immediately adjacent to an n-sided cell 11 (nm(n)) is linear in n: n m(n) = (6-a) n + (6a + µ 2), with a ~ 1 (Aboav-Weaire) (1) where µ 2 = Σ n (n-6) 2 P n is the second moment of the P n distribution. (The first moment for networks of trivalent vertices must be 6.) We look upon the Aboav-Weaire law as consisting of three assertions:
Frontiers in Physics
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a versatile social scientific research tool that adapts insights fr... more Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a versatile social scientific research tool that adapts insights from sociology and physics to study complex social systems. Currently, ABM is nearly absent from legal literature that evaluates and proposes laws and regulations to achieve various social goals. Rather, quantitative legal scholarship is currently most characterized by the Law and Economics (L&E) approach, which relies on a more limited modeling framework. The time is ripe for more use of ABM in this scholarship. Recent developments in legal theory have highlighted the complexity of society and law’s structural and systemic effects on it. ABM’s wide adoption as a method in the social sciences, including recently in economics, demonstrates its ability to address precisely these regulatory design issues.
Each is also a member of the Affiliated Faculty of the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Poli... more Each is also a member of the Affiliated Faculty of the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. 1 In the paper on which this chapter is based (Madison, Frischmann, & Strandburg 2010a), we referred to these as cultural commons, which we treat as equivalent to knowledge commons, and as constructed cultural commons. Cultural commons has been used recently by some other commons scholars (Enrico Bertacchini et al. 2012; Hess 2012). Our approach is inclusive of theirs but perhaps broader. The term "constructed" refers to the idea, which we address in more detail below, that the resources in knowledge commons are built by human agency, rather than found somehow in nature.
The twenty-first century "patent litigation explosion" is not unprecedented. In fact, t... more The twenty-first century "patent litigation explosion" is not unprecedented. In fact, the nineteenth century saw an even bigger surge of patent cases. During that era, the most prolific patent enforcers brought hundreds or even thousands of suits, dwarfing the efforts of today's leading "trolls." In 1850, New York City and Philadelphia alone had ten times more patent litigation, per U.S. patent in force, than the entire United States in 2013. Even the absolute quantity of late-nineteenth-century patent cases bears comparison to the numbers filed in recent years: the Southern District of New York in 188o would have ranked third on the list of districts with the most patent infringement suits filed in 2014 and would have headed the list as recently as 2010. This Article reveals the forgotten history of the first patent litigation explosion. It first describes the rise of large-scale patent enforcement in the middle of the nineteenth century. It then draws on ne...
Constructing Commons in the Cultural Environment, and responses to that article by Professors Thr... more Constructing Commons in the Cultural Environment, and responses to that article by Professors Thrainn Eggertsson, Wendy Gordon, Gregg Macey, Robert Merges, Elinor Ostrom, and Lawrence Solum. This short Reply comments briefly on each of those responses.
Governing Medical Knowledge Commons makes three claims: first, evidence matters to innovation pol... more Governing Medical Knowledge Commons makes three claims: first, evidence matters to innovation policymaking; second, evidence shows that self-governing knowledge commons support effective innovation without prioritizing traditional intellectual property rights; and third, knowledge commons can succeed in the critical fields of medicine and health. The editors' knowledge commons framework adapts Elinor Ostrom's groundbreaking research on natural resource commons to the distinctive attributes of knowledge and information, providing a systematic means for accumulating evidence about how knowledge commons succeed. The editors' previous volume, Governing Knowledge Commons, demonstrated the framework's power through case studies in a diverse range of areas. Governing Medical Knowledge Commons provides fifteen new case studies of knowledge commons in which researchers, medical professionals, and patients generate, improve, and share innovations, offering readers a practical ...
Governing Medical Knowledge Commons, 2017
Governing Medical Knowledge Commons makes three claims: first, evidence matters to innovation pol... more Governing Medical Knowledge Commons makes three claims: first, evidence matters to innovation policymaking; second, evidence shows that self-governing knowledge commons support effective innovation without prioritizing traditional intellectual property rights; and third, knowledge commons can succeed in the critical fields of medicine and health. The editors' knowledge commons framework adapts Elinor Ostrom's groundbreaking research on natural resource commons to the distinctive attributes of knowledge and information, providing a systematic means for accumulating evidence about how knowledge commons succeed. The editors' previous volume, Governing Knowledge Commons, demonstrated the framework's power through case studies in a diverse range of areas. Governing Medical Knowledge Commons provides fifteen new case studies of knowledge commons in which researchers, medical professionals, and patients generate, improve, and share innovations, offering readers a practical ...
Governing Medical Knowledge Commons, 2017
Governing Medical Knowledge Commons makes three claims: first, evidence matters to innovation pol... more Governing Medical Knowledge Commons makes three claims: first, evidence matters to innovation policymaking; second, evidence shows that self-governing knowledge commons support effective innovation without prioritizing traditional intellectual property rights; and third, knowledge commons can succeed in the critical fields of medicine and health. The editors' knowledge commons framework adapts Elinor Ostrom's groundbreaking research on natural resource commons to the distinctive attributes of knowledge and information, providing a systematic means for accumulating evidence about how knowledge commons succeed. The editors' previous volume, Governing Knowledge Commons, demonstrated the framework's power through case studies in a diverse range of areas. Governing Medical Knowledge Commons provides fifteen new case studies of knowledge commons in which researchers, medical professionals, and patients generate, improve, and share innovations, offering readers a practical ...
Knowledge Commons
This chapter describes methods for systematically studying knowledge commons as an institutional ... more This chapter describes methods for systematically studying knowledge commons as an institutional mode of governance of knowledge and information resources, including references to adjacent but distinct approaches to research that looks primarily to the role(s) of intellectual property systems in institutional contexts concerning innovation and creativity.Knowledge commons refers to an institutional approach (commons) to governing the production, use, management, and/or preservation of a particular type of resource (knowledge or information, including resources linked to innovative and creative practice).Commons refers to a form of community management or governance. It applies to a resource, and it involves a group or community of people who share access to and/or use of the resource. Commons does not denote the resource, the community, a place, or a thing. Commons is the institutional arrangement of these elements and their coordination via combinations of law and other formal rule...
Science
issue of Science (1). Hardin questioned society's ability to manage shared resources and avoid an... more issue of Science (1). Hardin questioned society's ability to manage shared resources and avoid an environmentally and socially calamitous free-for-all. In the 50 years since, the essay has influenced discussions ranging from climate change (see page 1217) to evolution, from infectious disease to the internet, and has reached far beyond academic literature-but not without criticism. Considerable work, notably by Nobelist Elinor Ostrom (2) , has challenged Hardin, particularly his emphasis on property rights and government regulatory leviathans as solutions. Instead, research has documented contexts, cases, and principles that reflect the ability of groups to collectively govern common resources. To mark this anniversary and celebrate the richness of research and practice around commons and cooperation, Science invited experts to share some contemporary views on such tragedies and how to avert them.-Brad Wible GOVERNANCE Tragedy revisited Collective actions, cultural norms
Legal But Unacceptable: Pallin v. Singer and Physician Patenting Norms
Boston College Law Review, May 22, 2008
Recent controversies about the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of internationa... more Recent controversies about the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of international calls have overshadowed equally disturbing allegations that the government has acquired access to a huge database of domestic call traffic data, revealing information about times, dates, and numbers called. Although communication content traditionally has been the primary focus of concern about overreaching government surveillance, law enforcement officials are increasingly interested in using sophisticated computer analysis of noncontent traffic data to "map" networks of associations. Despite the rising importance of digitally mediated association, current Fourth Amendment and statutory schemes provide only weak checks on government. The potential to chill association through overreaching relational surveillance is great. This Article argues that the First Amendment's freedom of association guarantees can and do provide a proper framework for regulating relational surveillance and suggests how these guarantees might apply to particular forms of analysis of traffic data.
Rounding the Corner on Trade Dress: A Tribute to the Jurisprudence of Judge Richard D. Cudahy
Judge Richard Cudahy’s dissenting opinion in the 1993 trade dress case, Kohler Co. v. Moen Inc., ... more Judge Richard Cudahy’s dissenting opinion in the 1993 trade dress case, Kohler Co. v. Moen Inc., dealt with the importance of the “right to copy” unpatented designs. This Essay argues that this opinion foreshadowed the Supreme Court’s recent shift away from an overly simplistic view of intellectual property as the sole engine of innovation to a renewed understanding of the interplay between property and competition as innovation drivers.
Patent Carrots and Sticks: A Model of Nonobviousness
ABSTRACT The authors develop an informal model of the impact of the nonobviousness standard on th... more ABSTRACT The authors develop an informal model of the impact of the nonobviousness standard on the choice of research projects. Previous models assume that the basic question confronting a researcher is, "Shall I produce this particular invention?" More realistically, the authors think a researcher asks, "Which research path shall I pursue?" The model shows that a patent serves as a carrot to induce the choice of more difficult projects than would be pursued under the no-patent alternative. The nonobviousness standard serves as a stick to prod researchers to choose even more difficult projects. The results of the model help us understand why a fact-intensive issue like obviousness is a question of law. The model also helps us understand the optimal relationship between the nonobviousness standard and patentable subject matter exclusions. Commentators often suggest subject-matter exclusions are unnecessary if the nonobviousness standard is used appropriately. The authors' model suggests this intuition is wrong for inventions characterized by large social spillovers and high social costs of patenting; a simple subject matter exclusion would be more efficient.
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Papers by Katherine Strandburg