Publications

“This narrow isthmus ‘twixt two boundless seas,
The past, the future, —two eternities!”
Thomas Moore [1780-1852]

Two classic American ideals, innovation and competition, have provided the foundation for two important areas of law, namely intellectual property and antitrust, respectively. These two areas, while purporting to foster the same worthy goal of maximum economic efficiency, often collide by virtue of their differing approaches toward promoting this goal. The Federal Circuit recently explored that collision, and decided in favor of intellectual property having the better of the battle. In this article, we examine the Federal Circuit’s decision and examine its impact upon an arcane area of intellectual property law relating to repair versus reconstruction of patented products.