Efficient Remedies for Breach of Warranty

This article attempts to suggest valuable refinements and extensions of the economic theory of warranty by explicitly considering the choice of remedies for breach of warranty in conjunction with the choice of warranty protection itself. In particular, it offers explanations for the prevalence of replacement terms rather than refund terms in warranties. Economists studying the general issue of breach of contract have noted that the choice of remedy has important implications for risk sharing, renegotiation, transaction-specific investment, and the incentive to breach.5 This article derives much of its insight from the recognition that work on the economics of contract breach has much to say that is relevant to the economics of warranties

Hadronic multiparticle production in extensive air showers and accelerator experiments

Using CORSIKA for simulating extensive air showers, we study the relation between the shower characteristics and features of hadronic multiparticle production at low energies. We report about investigations of typical energies and phase space regions of secondary particles which are important for muon production in extensive air showers. Possibilities to measure relevant quantities of hadron production in existing and planned accelerator experiments are discussed.Comment: To be published in Proceedings of ICRC 2005, 29th International Cosmic Ray Conferenc

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Book review of Hervé Moulin\u27s Cooperative Microeconomics: A Game-Theoretic Introduction and H. Peyton Young\u27s Equity: In Theory and Practic

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Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87002/1/j.1747-4949.2011.00586_1.x.pd

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Book review of Hervé Moulin\u27s Cooperative Microeconomics: A Game-Theoretic Introduction and H. Peyton Young\u27s Equity: In Theory and Practic

Business Method Patents and Patent Floods

The decline of the business method exception to patentability will increase the frequency of patent floods. By patent flood, I mean a dramatic jump in the number of patents filed covering a specific class of inventions, as we now observe in e-commerce. Floods are likely to become more frequent as future entrepreneurs respond to the appearance of a new market with a spate of business method patent applications claiming new methods tailored to the new market. In Part II of this Essay, I recount the story of the recent demise of the business method exception to patentability and categorize different business method patents. Some “method patents,” as defined by patent law, really protect product features. These ersatz “method patents” pose the greatest risk of patent floods and threat to competition. In Part III, I predict that as markets open in the future, we will often see a flood of business method patents. In Part IV, I describe the problems that follow from a patent flood: low quality patents, increased litigation, exclusionary conduct, and delay of cumulative innovation. In Part V, I address the history of patent pools and cross-licensing agreements that emerged in response to previous patent floods as well as the benefits of pools compared to the risk that pools may facilitate cartelization or other antitrust problems. Finally, in Part VI, I discuss the patentable subject matter requirement and the nonboviousness standard in determining the validity of business method patents and regulating future patent floods