IP is geographically limited and various across states

Intellectual property rights are geographically limited, and domestic intellectual property law varies across different states depending on each state's domestic policy decisions. Scholars have commented that patentability standards, for example, are fundamentally policy decisions that aim to achieve different policy goals across different states. 217In drafting patent laws, 218different states consider different factors in answering the question of whether the inventor has provided sufficient information to the public in exchange for the patent rights. 219Patent law requires balancing multiple interests so that the patentability standards establish a desirable balance between the rights of the intellectual property holder and the rights of the intellectual property user. 220Each state makes decisions according to its national economy and public interests. 221States in both common law and civil law [*573] jurisdictions may modify intellectual property law judicially, 222and may retroactively invalidate patents for reasons such as failure to meet patentability standards. 223