Heidi Berven & Peter Blanck
1998
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This article examines the ways in which the economic market for AT may be analyzed in the context of effective ADA implementation. It employs patent data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to examine how the ADA may be fostering innovation and economic opportunity for AT researchers and developers, manufacturers, and retailers. The findings suggest that evaluations of the ADA based on its perceived costs to society need to be balanced by the range of societal benefits accruing from the law, including those unanticipated economic benefits illustrated here.
This article is divided into several sections. It begins with a discussion of the role AT plays in furthering the goals of the ADA. It describes empirical objectives and an overview of study. Part II summarizes background information relating to patent law and the patent system. It discusses innovation, economic justifications of the patent system, and patentability standards. Examples of AT, including advances in wheelchair design and other innovations, are used to illustrate the patent law concepts introduced in Part II. Part III describes how patent records, data, and statistics are used by researchers. Part IV discusses the findings from the present study. The results are summarized in graphs and tables that appear in the body of the article and in the appendices. Finally, Part V considers the empirical and policy implications of the findings for ADA stakeholders.
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1376&context=ndjlepp
Heidi Berven, Peter Blanck. (1998). The Economics of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Part II: Patents, Innovations and Assistive Technology. Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, 12(1), 9-120.
Keywords: Americans with Disabilities Act, assistive technology