RACE, MARKETS & PATENTS

1. Shubha Ghosh Professor of Law SMU Dedman School of Law RACE, MARKETS & PATENTS Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

2. Should racial categories be used in patent law? • Social Context of Invention and Patent Law • Document patents • Analysis • Theories of patent law • Incentive • Market • Cultural • Theories of race • Liberal • Critical Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

3. MOTIVATION • In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration approved Bidil, a drug for hypertension, specifically for the African-American population. • Controversy over decision • The drug was also granted a patent in 2002. • The patent issues have been less thoroughly analyzed… Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

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6. Racial Terms in Patents • “African-American” in specifications or claims: 489 patents from July 1989 to November 2006. • “Negro” in specifications or claims: over 700 patents from April 1842 to July 2006. Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

7. Breakdown of patents by types • Epidemiological: over 500 from 1989 to 2006. • Hair: 70 patents from 1904 to 2006. • Skin color: 25 patents from 1941 to 2004. • Toys: 63 patents from 1863 to 2004. • Sorting Identities and Names: 7 from 1920 to 2005. • Miscellaneous: 51 from 1842 to 2006. Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

8. Selected Types of Patents Over Time • Hair • Before 1900: 0 • 1900-1950: 6 • 1950-2000: 36 • 2000-: 28 • Skin Color • Before 1940:0 • 1940-1950: 1 • 1950-2000: 13 • 2000-: 11 • Toys • Before 1900: 13 • 1900-1950: 23 • 1950-2000: 12 • 2000-: 15 • Sorting Identities and Names • Before 1920: 0 • 1920-1950: 2 • 1950-2000: 2 • 2000-: 3 Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

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18. Theories of IP • Incentive Theory • Wealth maximization • Market Theory • Commercialization • Cultural Theory • Civil Society Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

19. Theories of Race • Liberal Theories • Assimilation • Economic theories (Loury) • Pluralism (Ford) • Critical Theories • Accommodation and empowerment • Anti-subordination • Conversion, Passing, and Covering (Yoshino) Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

20. Typology of Normative Arguments Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

21. Critique of Current Arguments • NAACP • Sullivan & Lilliquist • Kahn Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

22. Critical Cultural Theories of Patent Law • Justification • Cultural theories of patent subsume other two • Critical theories of race, at least in moderate form, balances assimilation and accommodation • Some proposals • Racial category in specification but not in claim. • Racial category irrelevant for novelty and nonobviousness. • Racial category appropriate in beneficial utility analysis. Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project

23. What Does All This Mean? • Pervasiveness of racial categories • Social context of intellectual property • Intellectual property rules and social policy Ghosh--Race & Patent Law Project