Innovation and Its Discontents: How Our Broken Patent System Is Endangering Innovation and Progress, and What to Do About It.(Book review)

Michigan Law Review, May, 2006 by Dreyfuss, Rochelle C.

INNOVATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS: HOW OUR BROKEN PATENT SYSTEM IS ENDANGERING INNOVATION AND PROGRESS, AND WHAT TO Do ABOUT IT. By Adam B. Jaffe and Josh Lerner. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2004. Pp. ix, 236. $29.95.

INTRODUCTION

The Patent Act was last revised in 1952. The hydrogen bomb was exploded that year, vividly demonstrating the power of the nucleus; in the ensuing postwar period, the Next Big Thing was clearly the molecule. (1) Novel compounds were synthesized in the hopes of finding new medicines; (2) solid-state devices exploited the special characteristics of germanium and other semiconductors; (3) as investments in polymer chemistry soared, advice to the college graduate soon boiled down to "one word ... just one...

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