The Global Governance of Knowledge: Patent Offices and Their Clients

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Diagrams and tables......Page 13
List of abbreviations......Page 14
Preface......Page 16
The patent ocean: Kiribati......Page 19
Global patent governance......Page 21
Definitional clarifications......Page 23
Patents as private taxation......Page 25
Collective action, co-evolution and diffusion: explaining the changes in patent office administration......Page 28
Patent offices: the business model approach......Page 36
Disclosure and social value: two versions of the patent social contract......Page 45
The duties of the patent office......Page 51
The fieldwork trail and some findings......Page 56
‘Invisible’ patent harmonization and why patent offices matter......Page 65
Welcome to the maze......Page 73
Filing routes......Page 74
A procedure, another procedure and yet more procedures......Page 78
Grant procedure......Page 82
Patent quality......Page 87
The dark heart of complexity: patent claims......Page 97
Patent statutes......Page 109
Monopoly privileges......Page 110
Procedures for the grant of monopoly privileges......Page 112
The gap between patent law and patent administration......Page 123
The rise and spread of patent administration......Page 128
Europe’s national patent offices......Page 132
The birth of the European patent system......Page 135
The European Patent Convention......Page 140
Funding and fees at the EPO......Page 142
Surf’s up: PCT waves......Page 146
The EPO and national patent offices: from centralization to cooperation and competition......Page 148
Technical assistance and technocratic trust......Page 152
The effects of technocratic trust......Page 156
The echoes of empire......Page 160
The US patent system in the blink of an eye......Page 162
The problems in 1845......Page 167
The problems today......Page 170
Gaming behaviour......Page 173
Patent fees......Page 176
In whom do we trust?......Page 177
The Japanese patent system: from diffusion to monopoly rights......Page 180
Joining the club......Page 182
On being a senior member of the club......Page 185
Becoming an IP nation......Page 189
Trust and automation......Page 192
Trilateral cooperation......Page 195
Overwork......Page 198
The spirit of cooperation: the Patent Cooperation Treaty......Page 199
The spirit of cooperation: companies and the PCT......Page 201
On being an international authority......Page 206
The Trilateral hub......Page 207
Superhighways of cooperation......Page 209
The superhighway elite: trust, cooperation and competition......Page 211
The manual is the message......Page 213
Integration......Page 217
India: re-designing a colonial institution......Page 218
The patent raj......Page 224
India’s patent office: the jewel in the crown......Page 225
Modernization......Page 227
‘How can we win?’: India’s strategy on patents......Page 230
From bright line rules to shades of grey......Page 231
A patent-bright future?......Page 235
Patent law in the era of decline, rebellion and war......Page 239
Patents in communist China......Page 241
Opening the door to patents......Page 244
The great leap forward: the State Intellectual Property Office......Page 248
The Asian Trilaterals......Page 253
The tiger office......Page 254
Brazil: the nineteenth century......Page 260
Brazil the leader......Page 263
Brazil’s Patent Office: ‘making the IP business much bigger’......Page 268
The force of empire......Page 275
New empires......Page 278
New missionaries......Page 282
Regional automation......Page 290
Regional patent organizations......Page 292
One patent god......Page 300
A private insider governance network......Page 303
A counter network of outsiders......Page 308
The separation of powers principle......Page 311
New insiders for insider governance......Page 312
An external audit check......Page 313
Taking transparency seriously......Page 316
Transparency registers......Page 322
‘The ticket clippers’: regulating the patent attorney profession......Page 326
Examiners and patent quality......Page 332
Sovereignty matters......Page 336
Outsourcing the patent social contract......Page 339
Centralized regionalization: making regulatory capture easier......Page 342
Nodal governance......Page 344
Public nodal governance in patent administration......Page 350
Not raising one’s head above the parapet: lost opportunities in a world of nodal governance......Page 354
Index......Page 359