Scholarship

Background

My scholarship focuses on the law, norms, economics, and ethics of intellectual property and other legal regulation of information.  In many ways, I consider myself a "Critical Information Studies" scholar.  Much of my work concerns biologically encoded information and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

I studied law and economics and regulatory theory at New York University Law School, where I earned an LL.M. in Trade Regulation in 1998.  I earned my J.D. in 1991 from Seton Hall University Law School.  Before entering academe full-time, I was a Partner in the Information Technology / Intellectual Property practice group of  McCarter & English, LLP.

Publications

Here are links to my recent publications:

Patents, Essential Medicines, and the Innovation Game, 58 Vanderbilt Law Review 501 (2005).  This article is a game theory analysis of the effects of differing levels of patent protection on access to essential medicines in developing countries.

The Penguin's Genome, or Coase and Open Source Biotechnology, 18 Harvard J. Law & Tech. 167 (2004).  This article is an analysis of whether open source development principles can apply to biotechnology.

Peer-to-Peer Networks, Technological Evolution, and Intellectual Property Reverse Private Attorney General Litigation, 20 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 1685 (2005).  This paper analyzes "reverse private attorney general" litigation by intellectual property owners against individuals, using the RIAA file sharing litigation as a model.

The Penguin's Paradox: The Political Economy of International Intellectual Property and the Paradox of Open Intellectual Property Models, 18 Stanford Law & Policy Rev. ___ (2007) (symposium) (forthcoming).  The article provides a game theoretic political economy analysis of efforts to encode “open source” and “open access” intellectual property norms into public policy via the international intellectual property system.

A Virtue-Centered Approach to the Biotechnology Commons (or, The Virtuous Penguin), 59 Maine Law Review ___ (2007) (symposium) (forthcoming).  This essay sketches out a virtue ethics/virtue jurisprudence approach to biotechnology intellectual property policy.

Work in Progress

Currently, I'm working on the following projects:

The Information Commons and the Ontology of Information.   This paper will explore the metaphor of the "commons" as applied to information.  Is information really non-rival and non-excludable?  What do we mean when we use the term "information?"

Biotechnology and the Anti-Commons .  This project involves an empirical study of the innovation inputs into an important biotechnology product.  The goal is to assess the extent to which proprietary rights increased transaction costs during the course of the innovation that led to the production of this product.

A Virtue Jurisprudence of Information.  This project will extend the discussion of virtue ethics in my "Virtuous Penguin" article, in an effort to develop a richer virtue ethics approach to information policy.

Conferences

Following are conferences at which I've recently presented:

Symposium, The World and Christian Imagination, Baylor University, November 2006:  “Virtue Ethics and Intellectual Property.”

Symposium, Closing in on Open Science:  Trends in Intellectual Property and Scientific Research, University of Maine Law School, September 2006:  “Virtue Ethics and Open Source Biotechnology.”

Working Conference, Con/Texts of Invention, The Society for Critical Exchange, Case Western Reserve Law School, April 2006:  “The Penguin’s Paradox:  the Political Economy of International Intellectual Property and the Paradox of Open Source.”

Symposium, The Evolution of Life-Saving Drugs:  The Open Source Model and Beyond, Temple Journal of Science, Technology and Environmental Law, Temple Law School, February 2006:  “Challenges for Open Source Biotechnology.”

The Sedona Conference, Seton Hall University Law School:  Best Practices Concerning Protective Orders, September 2005:  “Protective Orders in Intellectual Property Cases.”

Working Conference, Intellectual Property Scholars’ Conference, Cardozo Law School, August 2005:  “Peer-to-Peer Networks, Technological Darwinism, and Intellectual Property Reverse Private Attorney General Litigation.”

Symposium, Peer-to-Peer Networking at the Crossroads, Seton Hall University Law School, April 2004: “Copynorms and Filesharing Litigation.”

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