Open Source, Open Access, and Open Transfer: Market Approaches to Research Bottlenecks

Please note that this post is from 2008. Evaluate with care and in light of later events.

The Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property has accepted a paper I co-authored with Professor Robin Feldman of UC Hastings School of Law. The name of the piece is Open Source, Open Access, and Open Transfer: Market Approaches to Research Bottlenecks. It should appear in full published form before the end of 2008.

The piece deals with so-called “patent thickets” and the extent such bottlenecks may be impacting research, especially in the field of biotechnology. Whether they really exist or not may be immaterial, as several approaches have nevertheless appeared to deal with their potential to restrict research. The piece looks calls three current approaches: “open source,” “open access,” and “open transfer,” and looks at the ways in which these approaches are used to deal with potential “thickets,” and, indirectly, to thus see their possible scope.

Much of this is based on Professor Feldman’s extensive intellectual property and patent work, some of which, at least, is openly available through SSRN.

UPDATE: Open Source, Open Access, and Open Transfer: Market Approaches to Research Bottlenecks is now available on SSRN. The article is also available on the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property.