Tom Cotter
Taft Stettinius & Hollister Professor of Law
Degrees
University of Wisconsin, B.S., M.S., J.D.
Expertise
- Antitrust & Trade Regulation
- Copyright
- Law & Economics
- Intellectual Property
- International Intellectual Property
- Patent Law
- Unfair Competition
Professor Thomas F. Cotter joined the University of Minnesota Law School faculty in 2006. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and in 1987 graduated magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he served as Senior Articles Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.
From 1987-89, Professor Cotter clerked for the Honorable Lawrence W. Pierce, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He practiced law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City from 1988-90, and at Jenner & Block in Chicago from 1990-94. From 1994-2005, he taught at the University of Florida College of Law, where he held a University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship and directed the school's Intellectual Property Law Program. From 2005-06, he was a Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law. In 2007, he was named to a two-year Solly Robins Distinguished Research Fellowship at the University of Minnesota Law School, and in 2008 was appointed to the Briggs and Morgan (later renamed to the Taft Stettinius & Hollister) Chair in Law.
Professor Cotter's principal research and teaching interests are in the fields of domestic and international intellectual property law, antitrust, law and economics, and art law. He has authored, coauthored, or co-edited several books—including Remedies in Intellectual Property Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2026); Wrongful Patent Assertion: A Comparative Law and Economics Analysis (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2026); FRAND: German Case Law and Global Perspectives (Edward Elgar Publishing 2024) (coedited with Peter Georg Picht and Erik Habich); Patent Wars: How Patents Impact Our Daily Lives (Oxford Univ. Press 2018); Comparative Patent Remedies: A Legal and Economic Analysis (Oxford University Press 2013); and Intellectual Property: Economic and Legal Dimensions of Rights and Remedies (with Roger D. Blair) (Cambridge University Press 2005)—and over seventy other articles, essays, and book chapters. He also publishes a blog, ComparativePatentRemedies.com, on the law (both foreign and domestic) and economics of patent remedies. Professor Cotter was elected to the American Law Institute in 2019.
Patents
Copyright
Patent Remedies
Intellectual Property Remedies
Art Law
Books
Remedies in Intellectual Property Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026)
FRAND: German Case Law and Global Perspectives (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024) (co-editor)
Patent Law: An Open-Source Casebook (Mark D. Janis & Ted Sichelman, exec. eds., Fall 2021; rev. 2023) (chapter editor)
Remedies in U.S. Patent Law (Tributary Publishing, 1st ed., 2019; 2d ed., 2020; 3d ed., 2021)
Patent Wars: How Patents Impact Our Daily Lives (Oxford University Press, 2018)
Trademarks, Unfair Competition, and Business Torts (Wolters Kluwer, 2011; 2d ed., 2016) (and accompanying teacher's manual)
Law and Economics: Positive, Normative and Behavioral Perspectives (West, 3d ed., 2014)
Comparative Patent Remedies: A Legal and Economic Analysis (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Intellectual Property: Economic and Legal Dimensions of Rights and Remedies (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
Journal Articles
Destruction, Proportionality, and Sustainability: A Law-and-Economics Analysis, 32 Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 111 (2024)
And Should I Then Presume?: A Response to Carrier and Tushnet's An Antitrust Framework for False Advertising, 108 Iowa Law Review Online 22 (2022-2023)
Standing, Nominal Damages, and Nominal Damages "Workarounds" in Intellectual Property Law After TransUnion, 56 U.C. Davis Law Review 1085 (2023)
Extraterritorial Damages in Copyright Law, 74 Florida Law Review 123 (2022)
Fifty Years of Patent Remedies Case Law: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back, 50 AIPLA Quarterly Journal 607 (2022)
Damages for Noneconomic Harm in Intellectual Property Law, 72 Hastings Law Journal 1055 (2021)
Extraterritorial Damages in Patent Law, 39 Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 1 (2021)
Is Global FRAND Litigation Spinning Out of Control?, 2021 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 1 (2021)
Antitrust, Intellectual Property, and Dynamic Efficiency: An Essay in Honor of Herbert Hovenkamp, Concurrences No.3 (2020), reprinted in Herbert Hovenkamp Liber Amicorum: The Dean of American Antitrust Law (Nicolas Charbit & Sonia Ahmad, eds., Institute for Competition Law, 2021)
Two Errors in the Ninth Circuit’s Qualcomm Opinion, 2020 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 1 (2020)
Demystifying Patent Holdup, 76 Washington and Lee Law Review 1501 (2019)
On the Economics of Injunctions in Patent Cases, 11 Zeitschrift für Geistiges Eigentum/Intellectual Property Journal 293 (2019)
On Unknown Opportunities and Perils: Reflections on Carrier and Minniti's “Biologics: The New Antitrust Frontier,” 2018 University of Illinois Law Review Online 72 (2018)
Patent Damages Heuristics, 25 Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 159 (2018)
Review Essay, 55 James Joyce Quarterly 213 (2018) (reviewing Joyce and the Law (Jonathan Goldman, ed., University of Florida Press, 2017)
The Value of the Standard, 101 Minnesota Law Review 1159 (2017)
A New Framework for Determining Reasonable Royalties in Patent Litigation, 68 Florida Law Review 929 (2016)
Anticompetitive Patent Injunctions, 100 Minnesota Law Review 871 (2016)
Legal Pragmatism and Intellectual Property Law, 7 Zeitschrift fur Geistiges Eigentum/Intellectual Property Journal 291 (2015)
Patents, Antitrust, and the High Cost of Health Care, 13-APR Antitrust Source 1 (Apr. 2014)
Comparative Law and Economics of Standard-Essential Patents and FRAND Royalties, 22 Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 311 (2014)
FTC v. Actavis, Inc.: When Is the Rule of Reason Not the Rule of Reason?, 15 Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology 41 (2014)
Make No Little Plans: Response to Ted Sichelman, Purging Patent Law of Private Law Remedies, 92 Texas Law Review See Also 25 (2014)
The International Trade Commission: Reform or Abolition? A Comment on Colleen V. Chien & Mark A. Lemley, Patent Holdup, the ITC, and the Public Interest, 98 Cornell Law Review Online 43 (Apr. 2013)
Reining in Remedies in Patent Litigation: Three (Increasingly Immodest) Proposals, 30 Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal 1 (2013)
An Economic Analysis of Patent Law's Inequitable Conduct Doctrine, 53 Arizona Law Review 735 (2011)
Four Principles for Calculating Reasonable Royalties in Patent Infringement Litigation, 27 Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal 725 (2011)
Four Questionable Rationales for the Patent Misuse Doctrine, 12 Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology 457 (2011)
IP Misuse and Innovation Harm, 96 Iowa Law Review Bulletin 52 (2011)
A Burkean Perspective on Patent Eligibility, Part II: Reflections on the (Counter)Revolution in Patent Law, 11 Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology 365 (2010)
Integrating the Right of Publicity with First Amendment and Copyright Preemption Analysis, 33 Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts 165 (2010)
Optimal Fines for False Patent Marking, 17 Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review 181 (2010)
Patent Remedies and Practical Reason, 88 Texas Law Review See Also 125 (2010)
Transformative Use and Cognizable Harm, 12 Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law 701 (2010)
Patent Holdup, Patent Remedies, and Antitrust Responses, 34 Journal of Corporation Law 1151 (2009)
Fair Use and Copyright Overenforcement, 93 Iowa Law Review 1271 (2008)
Reflections on the Antitrust Modernization Commission's Report and Recommendations Relating to the Antitrust/IP Interface, 53 Antitrust Bulletin 745 (2008)
Toward a Functional Definition of Publication in Copyright Law, 92 Minnesota Law Review 1724 (2008)
A Burkean Perspective on Patent Eligibility, 22 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 855 (2007)
Authorship, Audiences, and Anonymous Speech, 82 Notre Dame Law Review 1537 (2007)
Some Observations on the Law and Economics of Intermediaries, 2006 Michigan State Law Review 67 (2006)
The Procompetitive Interest in Intellectual Property Law, 48 William & Mary Law Review 483 (2006)
Accommodating the Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Works for Religious Purposes Under the Fair Use Doctrine and Copyright Act § 110 (3), 22 Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 43 (2004)
An Economic Analysis of Enhanced Damages and Attorney's Fees for Willful Patent Infringement, 14 Federal Circuit Bar Journal 291 (2004)
Antitrust Implications of Patent Settlements Involving Reverse Payments: Defending a Rebuttable Presumption of Illegality in Light of Some Recent Scholarship, 71 Antitrust Law Journal 1069 (2004)
Market Fundamentalism and the TRIPs Agreement, 22 Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 307 (2004)
Gutenberg's Legacy: Copyright, Censorship, and Religious Pluralism, 91 California Law Review 323 (2003)
Prolegomenon to a Memetic Theory of Copyright: Comments on Lawrence Lessig's The Creative Commons, 55 Florida Law Review 779 (2003)
Refining the "Presumptive Illegality" Approach to Settlements of Patent Disputes Involving Reverse Payments: A Commentary on Hovenkamp, Janis & Lemley, 87 Minnesota Law Review 1789 (2003)
Written on the Body: Intellectual Property Rights in Tattoos, Makeup, and Other Body Art, 10 UCLA Entertainment Law Review 97 (2003)
Are Settlements of Patent Disputes Illegal Per Se?, 47 Antitrust Bulletin 491 (2002)
Strict Liability and Its Alternatives in Patent Law, 17 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 799 (2002)
Rethinking Patent Damages, 10 Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 1 (2001)
The Elusive Logic of Standing Doctrine in Intellectual Property Law, 74 Tulane Law Review 1323 (2000)
An Economic Analysis of Seller and User Liability in Intellectual Property Law, 68 University of Cincinnati Law Review 1 (1999)
Intellectual Property and the Essential Facilities Doctrine, 44 Antitrust Bulletin 211 (1999), reprinted in The Economics of Intellectual Property 177-216 (Ruth Towse & Rudi W. Holzhauer, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002))
Is This Conflict Really Necessary?: Resolving an Ostensible Conflict between Patent Law and Federal Trademark Law, 3 Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review 25 (1999)
When the State Steals Ideas: Is the Abrogation of State Sovereign Immunity from Infringement Claims Constitutional in Light of Seminole Tribe?, 67 Fordham Law Review 1435 (1999)
An Economic Analysis of Damages Rules in Intellectual Property Law, 39 William & Mary Law Review 1585 (1998)
Do Federal Uses of Intellectual Property Implicate the Fifth Amendment?, 50 Florida Law Review 529 (1998)
Pragmatism, Economics, and the Droit Moral, 76 North Carolina Law Review 1 (1997)
Conflicting Interests in Trade Secrets, 48 Florida Law Review 591 (1996)
Legal Pragmatism and the Law and Economics Movement, 84 Georgetown Law Journal 2071 (1996)
Owning What Doesn't Exist, Where It Doesn't Exist: Rethinking Two Doctrines from the Common Law of Trademarks, 1995 University of Illinois Law Review 487 (1995)
Cargill, Inc. v. Monfort of Colorado, Inc.: The Supreme Court Restricts Private Antitrust Challenges of Horizontal Mergers, 1987 Wisconsin Law Review 503 (1987) (note)
Book Chapters
FRAND Offer, in FRAND: German Case Law and Global Perspectives 62 (Peter G. Picht, Thomas F. Cotter & Erik Habich, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024)
US and German Approaches to FRAND Disputes: Like Ships that Pass in the Night, in FRAND: German Case Law and Global Perspectives 212 (Peter G. Picht, Thomas F. Cotter & Erik Habich, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024)
Patent Law Doctrines--Remedies, in Research Handbook on the Economics of Intellectual Property Law 390 (Peter Mennell, David Schwartz & Ben Depoorter eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019)
Reasonable Royalties, in Patent Remedies and Complex Products: Toward a Global Consensus, Ch. 1 (Bradford Biddle, Jorge L. Contreras, Brian J. Love & Norman V. Siebrasse, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Lost Profits and Disgorgement, in Patent Remedies and Complex Products: Toward a Global Consensus, Ch. 2 (Bradford Biddle, Jorge L. Contreras, Brian J. Love & Norman V. Siebrasse, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Enhanced Damages, Litigation Cost Recovery, and Interest, in Patent Remedies and Complex Products: Toward a Global Consensus, Ch. 3 (Bradford Biddle, Jorge L. Contreras, Brian J. Love & Norman V. Siebrasse, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Injunctive Relief, in Patent Remedies and Complex Products: Toward a Global Consensus, Ch. 4 (Bradford Biddle, Jorge L. Contreras, Brian J. Love & Norman V. Siebrasse, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2019)
The Effect of FRAND Commitments on Patent Remedies, in Patent Remedies and Complex Products: Toward a Global Consensus, Ch. 5 (Bradford Biddle, Jorge L. Contreras, Brian J. Love & Norman V. Siebrasse, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Judicially Determined FRAND Royalties, in The Cambridge Handbook of Technical Standardization Law 365 (Jorge L. Contreras, ed., Cambridge University Press, 2018)
A Comparative Law and Economics Analysis of Damages for Patent Infringement, in Comparative Law and Economics 262 (Theodore Eisenberg & Giovanni B. Ramello, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016)
Comparative Overview and the TRIPS Enforcement Provisions, in Patent Enforcement Worldwide: Writings in Honour of Dieter Stauder 3 (Christopher Heath, ed., Hart Publishing, 3d ed., 2015)
Innovation and Antitrust Policy, in Oxford Handbook of International Antitrust Economics 132 (Roger D. Blair & D. Daniel Sokol, eds., Oxford University Press, 2015)
A Research Agenda for the Comparative Law and Economics of Patent Remedies, in Patent Law in Global Perspective 637 (Ruth L. Okediji & Margo A. Bagley, eds., Oxford University Press, 2014)
Legal Pragmatism and Intellectual Property Law, in Intellectual Property and the Common Law 211 (Shyamkrishna Balganesh, ed., Cambridge University Press, 2013)
The Essential Facilities Doctrine, in Antitrust Law and Economics 157 (Keith N. Hylton, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)
Book Reviews
Evaluating the Pro- and Anticompetitive Effects of Intellectual Property Protection, 5 The Antitrust Source (Mar. 2006) (reviewing Antitrust, Patents and Copyright: EU and US Perspectives (Francois Leveque & Howard Shelanski, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005))
Law, Economics, and Intellectual Property, 3 The Antitrust Source (Mar. 2004) (reviewing William M. Landes & Richard A. Posner, The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law (Harvard University Press, 2003))
Edited Symposia & Journals
Guest Editor, Perspectives on United States v. Microsoft Corp., 44 Antitrust Bulletin 553-738 (1999)
Entries in Reference Works
Pragmatism (Update), in 4 Encyclopedia of the American Constitution (Supplement) 1983-84 (Leonard W. Levy & Kenneth J. Karst, eds., Macmillan Reference USA, 2d ed., 2000)
CLE Materials
What You Need to Know about Antitrust Developments and How They Relate to IP, in 2015 Midwest Intellectual Property Institute (Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2015)
Copyright Trolls, in 2013 Midwest Intellectual Property Institute (Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2013)
Basic Copyright: Law of the Arts 101, in 2011 Art, Entertainment & Sports Law Institute (Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2011)
Introduction to the Antitrust Laws and the Intersection of Antitrust and Intellectual Property, in Antitrust Law Issues in Intellectual Property Litigation and Licensing (Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2011)
False Patent Marking Claims after Bon Tool: Patent Marking "Trolls" or Guardians of the Patent System?, in The 2010 Midwest Intellectual Property Institute (Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2010)
Hot Topics in Patent Remedies, in The 2009 Midwest Intellectual Property Institute (Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2009)
Civil Procedure and Jurisdiction, in 1997 Business Litigation Conference Certification Review Course (Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Committee and Business Law Section, Apr. 17-18, 1997)
Civil Procedure and Jurisdiction, in 1996 Business Litigation Certification Review Course (Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Committee and Business Law Section, Apr. 26-27, 1996)
Other Publications
Roundtable: The Legacy of the Microsoft Case, 35:2 Antitrust 13 (Spring 2021) (co-moderator with Karen Kazmerzak)
Not Fare Well, But Fare Forward, Voyagers, 10 Journal of Technology Law & Policy ix-xii (2005)
Introduction to Symposium on Intellectual Property, Development, and Human Rights, 14 Florida Journal of International Law 147 (2002)
Foreword, 3 Journal of Technology Law & Policy 1-3 (1998)