News
On September 10, 2012, President Barack Obama
announced his intent to nominate F. Scott Kieff as a Member of the United States International Trade Commission and Joshua D. Wright as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. On September 11, 2012, President Obama formally
nominated Kieff and Wright; and the Senate
confirmed Wright on January 1, 2013. Of the twelve people who have been members of our Project's research team, three have been nominated by a United States President to serve as a member of one of the independent government commisions focusing on the economy. In 2008, Troy A. Paredes, one of the Project's three founding investigators, was nominated by President George W. Bush as a Member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a post in which he presently serves. On January 3, 2013, Kieff's nomination, along with the others pending at the end of the Senate's term, were Returned to the President under the provisions of Senate Rule XXXI, paragraph 6 of the Standing Rules of the Senate. On February 4, 2013, Kieff was
re-nominated by President Obama.
On April 12, 2013 Richard A. Epstein debated the patent system with Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner at
PatCon 3. Professor Epstein and Judge Posner were both featured speakers at the event, and the debate was covered at
Patently-O and
Written Description.
On October 24, 2012, Richard A. Epstein participated in
a Federalist Society podcast on the topic "Patent Rights: A Spark or Hindrance for the Economy?"
Stephen H. Haber and Aldo Musacchio were awarded the 2012 Manuel Espinosa Yglesias Prize for their paper, "These are the 'Good Old Days': Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System." The juried prize was awarded by the Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias (CEEY) and includes both a monetary award and publication of the paper by the CEEY.
"
Patents are not the enemy", an article by Rod Cooper, Richard A. Epstein, and Stephen H. Haber, was published in the Chicago Tribune on August 15, 2012. (Free registration may be required to view the article online.)
Defining Ideas has published
Patently Bad Policy, an essay by F. Scott Kieff on two upcoming Supreme Court patent cases,
Hyatt v. Kappos and
Mayo v. Prometheus.