Marco Speaks on U.S. Patent System at TEDxTysons

Posted August 11, 2017

Alan Marco, associate professor in the School of Public Policy, gave a talk at the TEDxTysons 2017 event held in Tysons Corner, Virginia, on the importance of land patent laws and the need for reforms in the U.S. patent system.

In the presentation, Marco shared a story from Abraham Lincoln’s childhood in Kentucky and Indiana, illustrating how Kentucky's property patent laws impacted the family and how Indiana’s more organized land patent system prompted the Lincoln family moving to Indiana. Clarity and certainty in the patent system facilitates investment in the market for technology and technological progress which is the key driver of long run economic growth.

This fall, Marco joins the School as a tenured associate professor. He is an economist, that specializes in innovation and patent policy, science and technology policy, industrial organization, game theory, law and economics, intellectual property strategy and management, and big data analytics.

He comes to Tech from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where he held the position of chief economist. He has taught at the Williams School of Commerce at Washington and Lee University and at Vassar College.