John Marshall Law School Professor Daryl Lim's Book Receives International Acclaim

CHICAGO, March 20, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A book by John Marshall Law School Professor Daryl Lim on antitrust and patent issues continues to play a role in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as garner praise from the international legal community.

Professor Lim's book, Patent Misuse and Antitrust: Empirical, Doctrinal and Policy Perspectives, was recently lauded in World Competition Law and Economics Review, a leading journal focusing on competition, or antitrust law.

The review, authored by prominent antitrust Professor Spencer Waller of the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, notes that Lim "has provided one of the most detailed and insightful analyses of the important, but maddeningly vague, doctrine of patent misuse and its relationship to antitrust law."

Describing the book's approach as "innovative and effective," the review observes that "[i]n addition to thoughtful legal, economic, and policy analysis," Lim used "a comprehensive empirical survey and coding of all patent misuse cases through the end of 2012 and substantial qualitative empirical research through interviews with practitioners and judges about the perceived, and actual, metes and bounds of this slippery doctrine." The resulting work "throws valuable light on the state of the conventional wisdom as well as when and how actual practice and case law departs from that conventional wisdom."

Lim's book also was recently reviewed in the Law Library Journal, the official publication of the American Association of Law Libraries. That review described Lim's book as "a thorough study of a fascinating area of law that is more relevant than ever, yet too often poorly understood, if not completely overlooked." The review notes that it "is an excellent analysis of an understudied area of law bound to become increasingly important as watershed controversies and reforms continue to buffet patent law."

It observes that "Lim has done a superb job collecting data about the federal courts' treatment of patent misuse," and "presents these concepts in a concise format enlivened by empirical data from a comprehensive analysis of decided cases and commentary by scholars and practitioners."

Lawyers for both sides in a dispute before the U.S. Supreme Court over royalties from a superhero toy have cited the book. At issue in Kimble v. Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (Case No. 13-720), is the legal precedent Brulotte v. Thys Co.(Case # 379 U.S. 29), a 50-year-old Supreme Court ruling, which refused to enforce a patent license term requiring that royalty payments be made beyond the life of the patent. Former Solicitor General Seth Waxman, who is representing Marvel, recently cited Lim's book again in his February brief to the Court.

In Europe, Emeritus Professor Steven Anderman reviewed Lim's book in the U.K.-based Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property. He noted that "Lim's excellent book not only throws much light on the detailed development of the patent misuse doctrine in the U.S. but also makes a valuable contribution to the overall field of the interface between intellectual property rights and competition law."

Elsewhere, he writes that "to a European audience attempting to get a better grip on the best combination of patent law and competition law to foster innovation, an awareness of the U.S. patent misuse doctrine's history and contemporary role offers a fresh perspective."

Lim is a graduate of Stanford Law School and the National University of Singapore. At John Marshall, he teaches courses in antitrust law and IP law. His work in the area of antitrust and patent law has been cited in reports commissioned by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Canadian Government.
His articles have appeared in four of the top eight IP law reviews in the U.S., as well as in peer-reviewed journals and books in Europe and Asia. He also serves as a peer reviewer for The Yale Law Journal and Cambridge University Press. In 2014, Lim was awarded The John Marshall Law School's Faculty Scholarly Achievement Award, an honor bestowed for "significant contributions to legal scholarship."