Strengthening intellectual property rights protections will generate a massive increase in lawsuits and trials, clogging the court
William Landes, (Professor of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Law School), 2003 “An empirical analysis of intellectual property litigation: Some preliminary results, 41 Hous. L. Rev 749 https://houstonlawreview.org/article/4918 *sub-script variables exist in original in fonts that are not replicated
The greater the degree of uncertainty about legal precedents and the outcome of a trial, the more occasions there will be for p* > p* and the greater the number of trials that will take place relative to settlements. Alternatively, if the legal rules are clear and the parties agree on the relevant precedents and facts, p and p are not likely to differ significantly, so a settlement will result. Although no direct data on legal uncertainty exists, the passage of new laws and amendments to existing laws—particularly if they create new or expanded rights as opposed to clarifying existing laws and regulations are likely to be associated with greater legal activity. In the area of intellectual property, for example, we expect that statutory activity will increase the number of lawsuits because the statutes will cover a greater range of subject matter and activities. Less obviously, trials should comprise an increasing proportion of terminations because greater legal uncertainty, until a sufficient body of precedents interpreting the new statutes is established, increases the relative number of disputes in which the degree of mutual optimism (p* - p*)J, is greater than the costs of going to trial. An expansion in the level of economic activity associated with the creation of new intellectual property is likely to increase the number of potential disputes that have a positive expected value and hence the number of lawsuits and trials.