Christopher A. Cotropia
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Profile
Professor Chris Cotropia is the Dennis I. Belcher Professor of Law. He writes in the areas of empirical legal studies, patent law, and intellectual property. He is the author of numerous book chapters, amicus briefs, and law review articles on these subjects. Prior to joining the Richmond Law faculty, Professor Cotropia was the C. J. Morrow Research Professor of Law at Tulane University School of Law.
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Grants and Fellowships
Integrated Justice Platform -- Prototype-Open Knowledge Network, National Science Foundation, (2023 - 2025)
Building Bar Skills Module, AccessLex, (2024 - 2025)
America's Music Scenes in the Age of Social Media, National Endowment for the Humanities , (2021 - 2023)
Systematic Content Analysis of Litigation Events (SCALES) Open Knowledge Network to Enable Transparency and Access to Court Records, National Science Foundation, (2020 - 2023)
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Awards
University of Richmond University of Richmond's Distinguished Educator Award (2015)
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Presentations
"Examining the Value of Small Entity Patents," International Conference on Emerging Issues in IP Law, Paris-Lodron University Salzburg School of Law (October 2024)
"Examining the Value of Small Entity Patents," University of Denver School of Law (September 2024)
"Problems and Possibilities of Digital Humanities Approaches to Archiving American Music Scenes," University of Richmond Faculty & Staff Research Symposium, University of Richmond (September 2024)
"Ethical Considerations on Undisclosed Classroom Recordings," Not Just for Learning -- A Comprehensive Look on How IEP and 504 Plans Affect Youth, University of Richmond Public Interest Law Review (October 2023)
"Data and Civil Law," Data Justice: How Innovative Data is Transforming the Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law (October 2023)
"Patents Used in Patent Office Rejections as Indicators of Value," Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Society of Empirical Legal Studies and University of Chicago Law School (October 2023)
" Political Ideology and Judicial Administration: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic ," UR Faculty & Staff Research Symposium, University of Richmond (September 2023)
Commentator, "Copyright Small Claims Court," 7th Workshop on Empirical Methods in Intellectual Property, Duke Law School (July 2023)
"Better, Faster, and Cheaper Patenting ," Patcon 11, Northwestern University (April 2023)
"Better, Faster, and Cheaper Patenting," Works-in-Progress in Intellectual Property, Suffolk University Law School (February 2023)
"Gender Discrimination in Online Markets," Law and Economics Seminar, Washington University St. Louis School of Law (November 2022)
"Political Ideology and Judicial Administration: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic," Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Society of Empirical Legal Studies (November 2022)
"Why Companies Make Versus Buy Legal Services," 10th Annual Mid-Atlantic Patent Works-in-Progress, Georgetown University School of Law (September 2022)
"Why Companies Make Versus Buy Legal Services," Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Society of Empirical Legal Studies (March 2022)
Presenter, "Focus on Menstrual Justice in Schools," 12th Feminist Legal Theory Conference: Applied Feminism and Privacy, Center on Applied Feminism at the University of Baltimore School of Law (April 2021)
Presenter, "Law's Ability to Further the 'Menstural Movement'," Are You There, Law? It's Me, Menstruation, Columbia Journal of Gender & Law (April 2021)
Presenter, "Conflicts of Interest In Intellectual Property Law Cases," Greater Richmond Intellectual Property Lawyers Association Annual Meeting, Greater Richmond Intellectual Property Lawyers Association (October 2020)
Presenter, "The Hidden Value of Abandoned Patent Applications to the Patent System," Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Society of Empirical Legal Studies (November 2019)
Presenter, "The Hidden Value of Abandoned Patent Applications to the Patent System," Empirical Patent Law Conference, Georgetown Law Center (October 2019)
Presenter, "The Hidden Value of Abandoned Patent Applications to the Patent System," University of Richmond, University of Richmond (June 2019)
Commentator, "Retractions," Empirical Methods in IP, USPTO (April 2019)
Commentator, "Strategic Citations: A Reassessment," 7th Annual Empirical Patent Conference, Duke University (March 2019)
Presentations Prior to 2019
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Bar Admissions
California
District of Columbia
Virginia
United States Patent and Trademark Office
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Professional Experience
Dennis I. Belcher Professor of Law (2019 - present)
University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, VADirector, Intellectual Property Institute (2014 - present)
University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, VAProfessor of Law (2009 - 2019)
University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, VAAssociate Professor of Law (2006 - 2009)
University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, VAC.J. Morrow Research Associate Professor of Law (2003 - 2006)
Tulane University School of Law, New Orleans, LAIntellectual Property Litigation Associate (2001 - 2003)
Fish & Richardson P.C., Washington, DCLaw Clerk for the Hon Alvin A. Schall (1999 - 2001)
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit -
Institutional Service
President, Faculty Senate, (2016-08-01 to 2016-08-31)
Vice President, Faculty Senate, (2015-08-01 to 2015-08-31)
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Grants and Fellowships
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Publications
BooksJournal Articles
The SCALES Project: Making Federal Court Records Free, 119 Northwestern University Law Review 23 (with David Schwartz et al.) (2024).
Patents Used in Patent Office Rejections as Indicators of Value, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (with David Schwartz)
Nonobviousness and Unmotivated, Yet Minor, Inventions , 21 Northwestern Journal of Law and Technology 281 (2024).
Using AI to Boost Patent Quality and Equity, Regulation (with Colleen Chien) (2024).
Gender Discrimination in Online Markets, 25 American Law and Economics Review 228 (with Jonathan Masur et al.) (2023).
Political Ideology and Judicial Administration: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization (with Adam Chilton et al.) (2023).
Law's Ability to Further the "Menstrual Movement" , 41 Columbia Journal of Gender & Law 53 (2021).
Patents as Signals of Quality in Crowdfunding, 2021 University of Illinois Law Review 193 (2021).
Convergence and Conflation in Online Copyright, 105 Iowa Law Review 1027 (with James Gibson) (2020).
The Hidden Value of Abandoned Applications to the Patent System, 61 Boston College Law Review 2809 (with David Schwartz) (2020).
Menstruation Management in United States Schools and Implications for Attendance, Academic Performance, and Health, 6 Women's Reproductive Health 289 (2019).
Gender Disparity in Law Review Citation Rates, 59 William and Mary Law Review 771 (with Lee Petherbridge) (2018).
Heterogeneity Among Patent Plaintiffs: An Empirical Analysis of Patent Case Progression, Settlement, and Adjudication, 15 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 80 (with Jay Kesan et al.) (2018).
Higher Education and the DMCA, 25 Richmond Journal of Law & Technology (with James Gibson) (2018).
Who Benefits from Repealing Tampon Taxes? Empirical Evidence from New Jersey, 15 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 620 (with Kyle Rozema) (2018).
Physicalism and Patent Theory, 69 Vanderbilt Law Review 1543 (2016).
Should Your Law Review Article Have an Abstract and Table of Contents: An Empirical Analysis, 85 Mississippi Law Journal 295 (with Lee Petherbridge) (2016).
Patent Claim Interpretation Review: Deference or Correction Driven?, 2014 Brigham Young University Law Review 1095 (2015).
Copyright's Topography: An Empirical Study of Copyright Litigation, 92 Texas Law Review 1981 (with Jim Gibson) (2014) (Symposium: Steps Toward Evidence-Based IP).
Patent Claim Interpretation Review: Deference or Correction Driven, 2014 Brigham Young University Law Review 1095 (2014).
Predictability and Nonobviousness in Patent Law after KSR, 20 Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review 391 (2014).
The Dominance of Teams in the Production of Legal Knowledge, 124 Yale Law Journal Forum 18 (with Lee Petherbridge) (2014).
Unpacking Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), 99 Minnesota Law Review 649 (with Jay Kesan et al.) (2014).
Do Applicant Patent Citations Matter? Implications for the Presumption of Validity, 42 Research Policy 844 (with Mark Lemley et al.) (2013).
Patent Applications and the Performance of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 23 Federal Circuit Bar Journal i (with Cecil Quillen et al.) (2013).
What is the "Invention?", 53 William and Mary Law Review 1855 (2012).
The Strength of the International Trade Commission as a Patent Venue, 20 Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 1 (2011).
Determining Uniformity within the Federal Circuit by Measuring Dissent and En Banc Review, 43 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 801 (2010).
The Upside of Intellectual Property’s Downside, 57 UCLA Law Review 921 (with Jim Gibson) (2010).
Copying in Patent Law, 87 North Carolina Law Review 1421 (with Mark Lemley) (2009).
Describing Patents as Real Options, 34 Journal of Corporation Law 1127 (2009).
Modernizing Patent Law's Inequitable Conduct Doctrine, 24 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 723 (2009).
The Folly of Early Filing in Patent Law, 61 Hastings Law Journal 65 (2009).
The Individual Inventor Motif in the Age of the Patent Troll, 12 Yale Journal of Law and Technology 52 (2009).
The Unreasonableness of the Patent Office's "Broadest Reasonable Interpretation" Standard, 37 AIPLA Quarterly Journal 285 (with Dawn-Marie Bey) (2009).
Nonobviousness and the Federal Circuit: An Empirical Analysis of Recent Case Law, 82 Notre Dame Law Review 911 (2007).
Observations on Recent Decisions: The Year in Review, 88 Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society 46 (2006).
Patent Law Viewed through an Evidentiary Lens: The "Suggestion Test" as a Rule of Evidence, 2006 Brigham Young University Law Review 1517 (2006).
After-Arising Technologies and Tailoring Patent Scope, 61 New York University Annual Survey of American Law 151 (2005).
Patent Claim Interpretation and Information Costs, 9 Lewis & Clark Law Review 57 (2005).
Patent Claim Interpretation Methodologies and Their Claim Scope Paradigms, 47 William and Mary Law Review 49 (2005).
Counterclaims, the Well-Pleaded Complaint, and Federal Jurisdiction, 33 Hofstra Law Review 1 (2004).
Arising Under Jurisdiction and Uniformity in Patent Law, 9 Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review 253 (2003).
Post-Expiration Patent Injunctions, 7 Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 105 (1998).
Book ChaptersCrowdfunding and Intellectual Property Protection, in The EU Crowdfunding Regulation (Oxford University Press) (2021).
Empirical Analysis of Patent Validity, in Research Handbook on the Economics of Intellectual Property Law (Edward Elgar) (Peter Menell et al., eds.) (with Ronald Mann) (2019).
Ethics: Conflict of Interest Issues in Patent Litigation, in IP Enforcement and Litigation 2012: Civil and Criminal Update (PLI Intellectual Property Course Handbook Series) (2012).
Compulsory Licensing Under TRIPS and the Supreme Court of the United States's Decision in Ebay v. MercExchange, in Patent Law and Theory: A Handbook of Contemporary Research (Edward Elgar Publishing) (2009).
Internet, in Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (MacMillian) (David MacMillian, ed.) (2008).
Nonobviousness as an Exercise in Gap Measuring, in INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INFORMATION WEALTH (Praeger Publishers) (Peter Yu, ed.) (2006).
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In the News
Using A.I., Researchers Seek To Improve Legal Practice, Administration of Justice (ScienceBlog)
Mon., Dec. 14, 2020Tampons: That Bloody Sales Tax (NPR)
Wed., Mar. 6, 2019In 2020 Virginians could pay less for tampons and diapers (Virginia Mercury)
Tue., Mar. 5, 2019The future is now (Richmond Magazine)
Tue., Feb. 27, 2018A deep dive on NPE outcomes (Written Description Blog)
Tue., Oct. 17, 2017Cotropia on Ali Enterprises suing Fox (Bloomberg)
Wed., Oct. 11, 2017Gorsuch's "mainstream" measurement (FactCheck)
Thu., Apr. 6, 2017The battle for patent law (Law360)
Sat., Jul. 9, 2016Richmonders respond to Taylor Swift's victory over Apple (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Mon., Jun. 22, 2015IP Professors Q&A: Richmond Law's Christopher Cotropia (Law360)
Fri., Oct. 17, 2014Cracking the Code (Style Weekly)
Tue., Jul. 8, 2014What does the trademark ruling really mean for the Redskins? (NBC 12)
Wed., Jun. 18, 2014Lighting Ballast, Anderson Study (IPFrontline Magazine)
Sat., Sep. 21, 2013Guest Post by Christopher Cotropia on Existing Deference in Patent Claim Interpretation (Patently-O)
Wed., Jul. 24, 2013Study suggests patent office lowered standards to cope with backlog (ArsTechnica)
Sun., Apr. 7, 2013Patent bonanza is bad for business (CBS Moneywatch)
Tue., Mar. 26, 2013 - Links