Bronwyn Hall explores the rapid increase in patenting that has occurred over the last two decades in the US. She finds a sharp break beginning in 1984, just after the creation of a new, centralized appeals court for patents (the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit). And she finds that this "explosion" has been driven by a surprisingly narrow group of industries.

In addition to patents, other forms of intellectual property rights, including copyrights and trademarks, have also been dramatically extended over the last two decades. William Landes and Richard Posner look at the economic interests driving these policy changes in the US, including the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

It is sometimes argued that the patent system is "one-size-fits-all." Dan Burk and Mark Lemley argue that this is not actually the way things work in the US, nor should it be. Various legal doctrines allow Federal Circuit judges to influence different industries in different ways.