Abstract: Faced with the ever-worsening climate crisis, many nations—including the United States—have increasingly recognized the urgent need for rapid advancements in green, clean, and sustainable technologies. Patents play a fundamental role in incentivizing technological innovation, but the traditional patent process is too slow to match the urgency of the climate crisis. At the same time, the marketplace significantly undervalues green technology patents because they confer benefits to third parties not involved in the transaction (referred to as “positive externalities”). To address the urgency issue, patent “fast-track” programs have been implemented to speed up the patent application review process. To mitigate the positive externality issue, scholars have suggested patent prize systems may compensate for market failure. This Comment analyzes the green technology fast-track programs in the United States and proposes a method of combining the patent system with an “inventor’s choice” prize system to leverage the advantages of both systems to drive green technology innovation.
Abstract: This Article calls attention to the harms done when parties are misnamed in legal proceedings. Misnaming, which many might initially consider trivial, is properly understood as a form of…
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Abstract: Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States. The harm caused by this public health crisis falls disproportionately on Black and…
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Abstract: This Comment challenges as unconstitutional Washington’s exemption of incarcerated individuals from the state Minimum Wage Act. Incarcerated people in Washington, unprotected by minimum wage guarantees, earn low wages in…
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