Defining Patent Holdup

There are few patent law topics that are so heatedly debated as patent holdup. Those who believe in it, really believe in it. Those who don't, well, don't. I was at a conference once where a professor on one side of this divide just..couldn't…even, and walked out of a presentation taking the opposite viewpoint.The debate is simply the following. The patent holdup story is that patent holders can extract more than they otherwise would by asserting patents after the targeted infringer has invested in development and manufacturing. The "classic" holdup story in the economics literature relates to incomplete contracts or other partial relationships that allow one party to take advantage of an investment by the other to extract rents.You can see the overlap, but the "classic" folks think that patent holdup story doesn't count, because there's no prior negotiation – the party investing has the opportunity to research patents, negotiate…

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