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R. Polk Wagner

Professor of Law

R. Polk Wagner

Polk Wagner (@PolkWagner) focuses his research and teaching in intellectual property law and policy, with a special interest in patent law. He has written over 20 articles (see them here) on topics ranging from an empirical analysis of judicial decision-making in the patent law to the First Amendment status of software programs. Continue reading… Polk Wagner (@PolkWagner) focuses his research and teaching in intellectual property law and policy, with a special interest in patent law. He has written over 20 articles (see them here) on topics ranging from an empirical analysis of judicial decision-making in the patent law to the First Amendment status of software programs. His work has appeared in the Stanford Law Review, Columbia Law Review, and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, among several others. He is the author (with Professor Craig Nard) of Patent Law:Concepts and Insights (Foundation Press 2008). He is a frequent lecturer on intellectual property topics worldwide.


Prior to joining the Penn Law faculty in 2000, Wagner served as a clerk to Judge Raymond C. Clevenger III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He holds degrees from Stanford Law School, the University of Michigan, the College of Charleston, and was the 1994-95 Roger M. Jones Fellow at the London School of Economics.

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Expertise

  • Patent Law
  • Copyright
  • Trademark Law
  • Cyberlaw
  • Intellectual Property
  • Law and Technology
  • Information Law
  • Property Law

Books

PATENT LAW: CONCEPTS AND INSIGHTS (Foundation Press 2008) (with C. Nard).

Articles and Book Chapters

Poisoning the Next Apple: How the America Invents Act Harms Inventors, 65 Stan L. Rev. __ (2013); U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 11-29. Available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1883821 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1883821

Unenforceability (February 22, 2012). U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 12-28; U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 12-15; U Iowa Legal Studies Research Paper No. 12-10; Loyola-LA Legal Studies Paper No. 2012-28; 7th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies. (with L. Petherbridge and J. Rantanen) (forthcoming)

Unenforceability: Research Report (November 16, 2012). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2176775 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2176775 (with L. Petherbridge & L. Rantanen)

Life After Bilski, 63 STAN. L. REV. 1315 (2011) (with M. Lemley, M. Risch, T. Sichelman)

The Two Federal Circuits, 43 LOY. L.A. L. REV. 785 (2010).

Understanding Patent-Quality Mechanisms, 157 U. PA. L. REV. 2135 (2009).

The Supreme Court and the Future of Patent Reform, 55 FED. LAW. 35 (2008)

The Federal Circuit and Patentability: An Empirical Assessment of the Law of Obviousness, 85 TEX. L. REV. 2051 (2007) (with L. Petherbridge).

"A Teaching, Suggestion, or Motivation to Combine": Bringing Structure and Clarity to the Obviousness Analysis, 155 U. PA. L. REV. PENNUMBRA 96 (2006).

Comments on “Stealth Marketing and Editorial Integrity”, 85 TEX. L. REV. SEEALSO 17 (2006).

The Perfect Storm: Intellectual Property and Public Values, 74 FORDHAM L. REV. 423 (2005).

Patent Portfolios, 154 U. PA. L. REV. 1 (2005) (with G. Parchomovsky).

Reconsidering the DMCA, 42 HOUST. L. REV. 1107 (2005).

On Software Regulation, 78 S. CAL. L. REV. 457 (2005).

Exactly Backwards: Exceptionalism and the Federal Circuit, 54 CASE W. RES. L. REV. 749 (2004).

Is the Federal Circuit Succeeding? An Empirical Assessment of Judicial Performance, 152 U. PA. L. REV. 1105 (2004) (with Lee Petherbridge).

(Mostly) Against Exceptionalism, in F. SCOTT KIEFF, ADVANCES IN GENETICS 50-367 (2003).

Of Patents and Path Dependency: A Comment on Burk & Lemley, 18 BERKELEY TECH. L.J. 1341 (2004).

Information Wants to Be Free: Intellectual Property and the Mythologies of Control, 103 COLUM. L. REV. 995 (2003).

Realspace Sovereigns in Cyberspace: Problems with the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, 17 BERKELEY TECH. L.J. 989 (2002) (with Catherine Struve).

Reconsidering Estoppel: Patent Administration & the Failure of Festo, 151 U. PA. L. REV. 159 (2002).

The Myth of Private Ordering: Rediscovering Legal Realism in Cyberspace, 73 CHI-KENT L. REV. 1295 (1999) (with M. J. Radin).

Filters and the First Amendment, 83 MINN. L. REV. 755 (1999).

The Medium is the Mistake: The Law of Software for the First Amendment, 51 STAN. L. REV. 387 (1999).

More publications can be found here.

Research Areas

  • Intellectual Property
  • Patent Law
  • Copyright Law
  • Trademark Law
  • eCommerce Law
  • Cyberlaw/Internet Law
  • Law and Technology

Positions

Penn Law - Professor of Law (2005- ); Co-Director for Technology, Innovation, and Competition (2009- ); Assistant Professor (2000-05)

Law Clerk to the Hon. Clevenger, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (1998-2000)

Courses

  • Property Law
  • Patent Law & Policy
  • Introduction to Intellectual Property Law & Policy
  • Patent Law Appellate Advocacy

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