UC Berkeley

Time and time again, scholars attempt to assess efficacy of intellectual property institution. The attempts have created vast amount of literatures. None the less, as impressive are the volumes of the works that this enquiry has generated, so is the absence of a generally applicable theory of intellectual property either claiming or disclaiming its efficacy. This paper questions the existence of a general definition of efficiency that is applicable to the assessment of the patent institution. While it is true that the efficiency as applied to specific cases may be definable with the help of further normative criteria and may even be useful, the indeterminacy of efficiency is such degree that a normative explanation of institutional arrangement of intellectual property solely based on efficiency is not as useful.

Cite as Nari Lee, Toward a Pluralistic Theory on an Efficacious Patent Institution, 6 J. MARSHALL REV. INTELL. PROP. L. 224 (2007)