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Jonathan S. Masur

Academic Faculty

Full Time Teaching Faculty

Jonathan S. Masur

John P. Wilson Professor of Law, Director of the Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Program in Behavioral Law, Finance and Economics, David and Celia Hilliard Research Scholar

Biography

Jonathan S. Masur received a BS in physics and an AB in political science from Stanford University and his JD from Harvard Law School. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and for Judge Richard A. Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He joined the Law School faculty in 2007, served as Deputy Dean from 2012 to 2014, and was named the John P. Wilson Professor of Law in 2014. He won the Graduating Students Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014, 2017 & 2022 and the Class Award in 2016, 2021, 2023 & 2024. Professor Masur is the co-author of Happiness and the Law (University of Chicago Press, 2015) and Patent Law: Cases, Problems, and Materials (2023), the leading patent casebook, which has been adopted by over sixty law schools. He has served as director of the Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Program in Behavioral Law, Finance and Economics since its founding.

Professor Masur’s research and teaching interests include patent law, administrative law, behavioral law and economics, and criminal law.

Education and Experience

Education

Harvard Law School

JD, magna cum laude, 2003

Stanford University

BS in physics with distinction, 1999
AB in political science with distinction, 1999

Experience

The University of Chicago Law School

John P. Wilson Professor of Law, 2014-present
David and Celia Hilliard Research Scholar, 2014-present
Deputy Dean, 2012-2014
Professor of Law, 2012-2014
Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar, 2011-2013
Assistant Professor of Law, 2007-2012
Bigelow Teaching Fellow, 2005-2007

The Honorable Richard A. Posner, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Law Clerk, 2004-2005

The Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel, Chief Judge of the US District for the Northern District of California

Law Clerk, 2003-2004

Publications

Books (Author)

  • Patent Law: Cases, Problems, and Materials (3rd ed.) (Open Source at patentcasebook.org, 2023) (with Lisa L. Ouellette).www
  • Patent Law: Cases, Problems, and Materials (2nd ed.) (Open Source at patentcasebook.org, 2022) (with Lisa L. Ouellette).www
  • Happiness and the Law (University of Chicago Press, 2014) (with John Bronsteen & Christopher Buccafusco).cu

Books (Editor)

  • Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America's Wars. (Oxford University Press, 2021). www
  • Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America’s Wars. (Oxford University Press, 2021).

Journal Articles

  • "Overwork," 103 North Carolina Law Review __ (2025) (forthcoming) (with Aneil Kovvali).
  • "The Common Political Foundations of Originalism and Cost-Benefit Analysis," 77 Administrative Law Review __ (2025) (forthcoming) (with Eric A. Posner).
  • "Trade Secrecy’s Information Paradox," 100 Notre Dame Law Review __ (2025) (forthcoming) (with Christopher Buccafusco & Deepa Varadarajan).
  • "Disclosure Puzzles in Patent Law," 92 University of Chicago Law Review __ (2025) (forthcoming) (with Lisa L. Ouellette).
  • "Real-World Prior Art," 76 Stanford Law Review 703 (2024) (with Lisa L. Ouellette). www
  • "Competition and Congestion in Trademark Law," 102 Texas Law Review 437 (2024) (with Christopher Buccafusco & Mark P. McKenna). www
  • "Labor Mobility and the Problems of Modern Policing," 99 New York University Law Review 128 (2024) (with John Rappaport & Aurelie Ouss). www
  • "Gender Discrimination in Online Markets," 25 American Law and Economics Review 228 (2024) (with Christopher . Cotropia & David Schwartz). www
  • "Relentless as Entrenchment," 31 George Mason Law Review 573 (2024). www
  • "Horizontal Collusion and Parallel Wage-Setting in Labor Markets," 90 University of Chicago Law Review 545 (2023) (with Eric A. Posner). www
  • "Assessing Affirmative Action's Diversity Rationale," 122 Columbia Law Review 331 (2022) (with Adam Chilton, Justin Driver & Kyle Rozema). www
  • "Regulatory Oscillation," 39 Yale Journal on Regulation 744 (2022). www
  • "How Many Latours is Too Many? Measuring Brand Name Congestion in Bordeaux Wine," 16 Journal of Wine Economics 419 (2022) (with Christopher Buccafusco & Ryan Whalen). www
  • "Promoting Regulatory Prediction," 97 Indiana Law Journal 203 (2022) (with Jonathan R. Nash). www
  • "The Scholar as Coauthor," 88 University of Chicago Law Review 1725 (2021). www
  • "Moral Norms, Adaptive Preferences, and Hedonic Psychology," 22 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 35 (2021). www
  • "Chevronizing Around Cost-Benefit Analysis," 70 Duke Law Journal 1109 (2021) (with Eric A. Posner). www
  • "Rethinking Law School Tenure Standards," 50 Journal of Legal Studies 1 (2021) (with Adam Chilton & Kyle Rozema). ssrn www
  • "Drugs, Patents, and Wellbeing," 98 Washington University Law Review 1403 (2021) (with Christopher Buccafusco). ssrn www
  • "Cost-Benefit Analysis Under Trump: A Comment on Dan Farber’s Regulatory Review in Anti-Regulatory Times," 94 Chicago-Kent Law Review 665 (2020). www
  • "Political Ideology and the Law Review Selection Process," 22 American Law and Economics Review 211 (2020) (with Adam Chilton & Kyle Rozema). ssrn www
  • "Patents, Property, and Prospectivity," 71 Stanford Law Review 963 (2019) (with Adam Mortara). ssrn
  • "Norming in Administrative Law," 68 Duke Law Journal 1383 (2019) (with Eric A. Posner). ssrn www
  • "What Should Law School Rankings Measure and How Should We Measure It: A Comment on Heald and Sichelman’s Rankings," 60 Jurimetrics: The Journal of Law, Science & Technology 61 (2019) (with Adam Chilton). ssrn www
  • "Posner’s Unlikely Patent Intervention," 86 University of Chicago Law Review 1171 (2019).
  • "Institutional Design and the Nature of Patents," 105 Iowa Law Review 2535 (2019). www
  • "Analysing the Law's Effects on Human Well-Being: A Comparative Perspective," 13 Journal of Comparative Law 2 (2018) (with John Bronsteen & Christopher Buccafusco ). cu
  • "Police Violence in The Wire," 2018 University of Chicago Legal Forum 139 (2018) (with Richard H. McAdams). cu www
  • "Intelligent Design," 68 Duke Law Journal 75 (2018) (with Christopher Buccafusco & Mark Lemley ). ssrn cu
  • "Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Judicial Role," 85 University of Chicago Law Review 935 (2018) (with Eric A. Posner). ssrn cu
  • "Should Regulation Be Countercyclical?," 34 Yale Journal on Regulation 857 (2017) (with Eric A. Posner). ssrn cu
  • "How Patent Damages Skew Licensing Markets," 36 Review of Litigation 379 (2017) (with Erik Hovenkamp). cu
  • "Quadratic Voting As An Input To Cost-Benefit Analysis," 172 Public Choice 177 (2017). cu www
  • "Unquantified Benefits and the Problem of Regulation Under Uncertainty," 102 Cornell Law Review 7 (2016) (with Eric A. Posner). cu
  • "CBA at the PTO," 65 Duke Law Journal 1701 (2016). cu www
  • "Open Letter On Ethical Norms In Intellectual Property Scholarship," 29 Harvard Journal of Law and Technology 1 (2016) (with Robin Feldman, Mark Lemley & Arti K. Rai). cu
  • "Toward a Pigouvian State," 164 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 93 (2015) (with Eric A. Posner). cu
  • "The Use and Misuse of Patent Licenses," 110 Northwestern University Law Review 115 (2015). cu
  • "An Administrative Typology of Consumer Protection," 14 Law and Social Sciences 27 (2015). cu
  • "The Overlooked Benefits of the Blackstone Principle," 128 Harvard Law Review Forum 289 (2015) (with John Bronsteen). cu
  • "Deference Mistakes," 82 University of Chicago Law Review 643 (2015) (with Lisa L. Ouellette). ssrn cu
  • "The Intractable Normative Complexities of Valuing Foreign Lives," 2015 University of Illinois Law Review Slip Opinions 12 (2015). cu
  • "Well-Being Analysis vs. Cost-Benefit Analysis," 44 The Environmental Law Reporter 10702 (2014) (with John Bronsteen & Christopher Buccafusco ). cu
  • "Innovation and Incarceration: An Economic Analysis of Criminal Intellectual Property Law," 87 Southern California Law Review 275 (2014) (with Christopher Buccafusco). ssrn cu
  • "Libertarian Paternalism, Path Dependence, and Temporary Law," 81 University of Chicago Law Review 291 (2014) (with Tom Ginsburg & Richard H. McAdams). ssrn cu
  • "Well-Being Analysis vs. Cost-Benefit Analysis," 62 Duke Law Journal 1603 (2013) (with John Bronsteen & Christopher Buccafusco). ssrn cu
  • "Raising the Stakes in Patent Cases," 101 Georgetown Law Journal 637 (2013) (with Anup Malani). ssrn cu
  • "Regulation, Unemployment, and Cost-Benefit Analysis," 98 Virginia Law Review 579 (2012) (with Eric A. Posner). ssrn cu
  • "Costly Intellectual Property," 65 Vanderbilt Law Review 677 (2012) (with David Fagundes). ssrn cu
  • "Inflation Indicators," 121 Yale Law Journal 375 (2012). ssrn cu
  • "Licensing of Intellectual Property," 78 University of Chicago Law Review 1 (2011) (with Omri Ben-Shahar & Richard A. Epstein ). cu
  • "Patent Liability Rules as Search Rules," 78 University of Chicago Law Review 187 (2011). ssrn cu
  • "Climate Regulation and the Limits of Cost-Benefit Analysis," 99 California Law Review 1557 (2011) (with Eric A. Posner). ssrn cu
  • "Patent Inflation," 121 Yale Law Journal 470 (2011). ssrn cu
  • "The Institutional Dynamics of Transition Relief," 85 New York University Law Review 391 (2010) (with Jonathan R. Nash). ssrn cu
  • "International Agreements, Internal Heterogeneity, and Climate Change: The Two Chinas Problem," 50 Virginia Journal of International Law 325 (2010) (with Daniel Abebe). ssrn cu
  • "Costly Screens and Patent Examination," 2 Journal of Legal Analysis 687 (2010). ssrn cu
  • Comment, "Booker Reconsidered ," 77 University of Chicago Law Review 1091 (2010). ssrn cu
  • "The PTO's Future: Reform or Abolition?," 158 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1 (2009). cu
  • "Describing the Effect of Adaptation on Settlement," 109 Columbia Law Review Sidebar 21 (2009) (with John Bronsteen & Christopher Buccafusco). cu
  • "Judicial Deference and the Credibility of Agency Commitments," 60 Vanderbilt Law Review 1021 (2007). ssrn cu
  • "A Hard Look or a Blind Eye: Administrative Law and Military Deference," 56 Hastings Law Journal 441 (2004). ssrn cu www
  • "Book Review (reviewing Sven Lindquist, A History of Bombing (2001))," 15 Harvard Human Rights Journal 342 (2002). cu www

Book Sections

  • "The Folk Theory of Well-Being," in Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy, volume 5 (forthcoming) (with Brian Leiter, John Bronsteen & Kevin Tobia). ssrn
  • "One (More) Virtue of Temporary Law," in Research Handbook on Law and Time, Frank Fagan & Saul Levmore eds. (forthcoming) (with Tom Ginsburg & Richard H. McAdams).
  • "Introduction," in Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America’s Wars, Alison L. LaCroix, Jonathan S. Masur, Martha C. Nussbaum & Laura Weinrib eds. (Oxford University Press, 2021).
  • "Catch-22 and the Law of Large Organization," in Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America’s Wars, Alison L. LaCroix, Jonathan S. Masur, Martha C. Nussbaum & Laura Weinrib eds. (Oxford University Press, 2021).
  • "Introduction," in Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America’s Wars, Alison L. LaCroix, Jonathan S. Masur, Martha C. Nussbaum & Laura Weinrib eds. (Oxford University Press, 2021) (with Alison L. LaCroix & Martha C. Nussbaum & Laura Weinrib).
  • "Wealth and Warfare in the Novels of Jane Austen," in Power, Prose, and Purse: Law,Literature, and Economic Transformations (Oxford University Press, 2019) (with Seebany Datta-Barua).
  • "Intellectual Property Law and the Promotion of Welfare," in Research Handbook on the Economics of International Property Law, Ben Depoorter & Peter Mennell eds. (Edward Elgar, 2019) (with Christopher Buccafusco).
  • "Premeditation and Responsibility in The Stranger," in Fatal Fictions: Crime and Investigation in Law and Literature, Alison L. LaCroix, Richard H. McAdams & Martha C. Nussbaum eds. (Oxford University Press, 2017). cu
  • "Well-Being and Public Policy," in The Oxford Handbook of Law and Economics: Volume 1: Methodology and Concepts (Oxford University Press, 2017) (with John Bronsteen & Christopher Buccafusco ). cu
  • "How Judges Think: A Conversation with Judge Richard Posner," in The Supreme Court (Grey House Publishing, 2015). cu
  • "Unemployment and Regulatory Policy," in Does Regulation Kill Jobs?, Cary Coglianese, Adam M. Finkel & Chris Carrigan eds. (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013) (with Eric A. Posner). cu
  • "For General Deterrence (Comment on Chapter 5, Paul H. Robinson, 'The Difficulties of Deterrence as a Distributive Principle')," in Criminal Law Conversations, Kimberly Ferzan, Stephen Garvey & Paul H. Robinson eds. (Oxford University Press, 2009) (with Richard H. McAdams & Thomas J. Miles). cu

Working Papers

  • "Chapter II.A: Novelty," (2020) (with Lisa L. Ouellette). ssrn
  • "Drugs, Patents, and Wellbeing," (2020)(forthcoming) (with Christopher Buccafusco). ssrn
  • "Drugs, Patents, and Wellbeing," (2020)(forthcoming) (with Christopher Buccafusco). ssrn
  • "Chevronizing Around Cost-Benefit Analysis: Deregulation in the Trump Administration," (2020) (with Eric A. Posner). ssrn
  • "Gender Discrimination in Online Markets," Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics(2019) (with Christopher . Cotropia & David L. Schwartz). ssrn cu
  • "The Use and Misuse of Patent Licenses," Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics, No. 729 (2015). ssrn cu
  • "Toward a Pigouvian State," Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics, No. 716 (2015) (with Eric A. Posner). ssrn cu
  • "Well-Being and Public Policy," Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics, No. 707 (2014) (with John Bronsteen & Christopher Buccafusco ). ssrn cu

Other Publications

  • "The Business Interests That Promoted Cost-Benefit Analysis and Originalism Will Also Kill Them," ProMarket, December 2, 2024 (with Eric A. Posner). www
  • "The FTC Noncompete Ban Is Legal," ProMarket, May 8, 2024 (with Eric A. Posner). www
  • "Opinion: Does campus diversity justify affirmative action? Our study says yes.," The Washington Post, October 18, 2022 (with Adam Chilton, Justin Driver & Kyle Rozema). www
  • "In Trump’s ‘coup,’ everyone is waiting for someone else to act first," The Washington Post, December 22, 2020. www
  • "Will Cost-Benefit Analysis Become the Law of the EPA?," Yale Journal on Regulation: Notice & Comment, July 11, 2018. www
  • "The Regulatory Accountability Act, Or: How Progressives Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Cost-Benefit Analysis," Yale Journal on Regulation: Notice & Comment, May 4, 2017. www
  • "The Deep Incoherence of Trump’s Executive Order on Regulation," Yale Journal on Regulation: Notice & Comment, February 7, 2017. www
  • "How Antonin Scalia’s Ghost Could Block Donald Trump’s Wall," New York Times, January 25, 2017, at p. A29 (with Daniel Hemel & Eric A. Posner). www
  • "How will Nautilus Affect Indefiniteness at the PTO?," Patently-O, June 5, 2014 (with Lisa L. Ouellette). www
  • "Prizes and Grants: A Commentary on Burstein & Murray, and on Sampat," Balkinization, March 21, 2014. www

Presentations
  • Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, October 2023. “Labor Mobility and the Problems of Modern Policing.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, May 2023. “Valuing Future Lives.”
  • Duke University School of Law, Faculty Workshop, March 2023. “Valuing Future Lives.”
  • Michigan Law School Law & Economics Workshop, February 2023. “Labor Mobility and the Problems of Modern Policing.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, October 2021. “Assessing Affirmative Action’s Diversity Rationale.”
  • Harvard Law School, Law & Economics Workshop, April 2019. “Rethinking Law School Tenure Standards.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Boston University, May 2018. “Norming in Administrative Law.”
  • Intellectual Property Scholars Conference, Cardozo Law School, August 2017. “Patents, Property, and Prospectivity.”
  • Conference on Law & Macroeconomics, Yale University, May 2017. “Should Regulation Be Countercyclical?”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Yale University, May 2017. “How Patent Damages Skew Licensing Markets.”
  • NYU Law & Economics Workshop, February 2017. “Should Regulation Be Countercyclical?”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Harvard University, May 2016. “Unquantified Benefits and the Problem of Regulation Under Uncertainty.”
  • Northwestern Law & Economics Workshop, Northwestern Law School, January 2016. “Unquantified Benefits: The Problem of Regulation under Uncertainty.”
  • Columbia Tax Workshop, Columbia Law School, October 2015. “Toward a Pigouvian State.”
  • Intellectual Property Scholars Conference, DePaul Law School, August 2015. “The Use and Misuse of Patent Licenses.”
  • Conference on Regulation under Deep Uncertainty, University of Chicago, June 2015. “Unquantified Benefits: The Problem of Regulation under Uncertainty.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Columbia University, May 2015. “Toward a Pigouvian State.”
  • Conference on Intellectual Property and Administrative Law, University of Houston College of Law, March 2015. “Quadratic Patent Policy.”
  • Works in Progress in Intellectual Property, United States Patent and Trademark Office, February 2015. “The Use and Misuse of Licenses in Calculating Patent Damages.”
  • Intellectual Property Scholars Conference, Boalt School of Law, August 2014. “Deference Mistakes.”
  • The Law and Economics of Consumer Protection in China, University of Chicago Center in Beijing, June 2014. “An Administrative Typology of Consumer Protection.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, University of Chicago, May 2014. “Two-Part Pricing and the Cost of Patents.”
  • ETH Zurich, Law & Economics Workshop, October 2013. “Two-Part Pricing and the Cost of Patents” and “Innovation and Incarceration.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Vanderbilt University, May 2013. “Libertarian Paternalism, Path Dependence, and Temporary Law.”
  • Tel Aviv University Law School, Law & Economics Workshop, April 2013. “Libertarian Paternalism, Path Dependence, and Temporary Law.”
  • UCLA Law School, Law & Economics Workshop, January 2013. “Libertarian Paternalism, Path Dependence, and Temporary Law.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Stanford University, May 2012. “Regulation and Unemployment.”
  • Yale Law School, Law, Economics, and Organization Workshop, October 2011. “Patent Inflation.”
  • Columbia University School of Law, Law & Economics Workshop, October 2011. “Patent Inflation.”
  • University of Virginia School of Law, Law & Economics Colloquium, October 2011. “Patent Inflation.”
  • USC School of Law, Law & Economics Workshop, August 2011. “Patent Inflation.”
  • Intellectual Property Scholars Conference, Plenary Session, DePaul Law School, August 2011. “Two-Part Pricing and the True Costs of Patents.”
  • Stanford-Yale Junior Faculty Forum, Stanford Law School, June 2011. “Patent Inflation.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Columbia University, May 2011. “Patent Inflation.”
  • University of Pennsylvania Law School, Center for Technology, Competition, and Innovation, December 1010. “Patent Inflation.”
  • Northwestern Law School, Panel on Economic Responses to Climate Change, November 2010. “Climate Regulation and the Limits of Cost-Benefit Analysis.”
  • Intellectual Property Scholars Conference, UC Berkeley School of Law, August 2010. “Patent Inflation.”
  • University of Chicago Law School, Conference on the Licensing of Intellectual Property, June 2010. “Patent Liability Rules as Search Rules.”
  • University of Chicago Law School, Conference on the Economics of Race, May 2010. “The Racial Happiness Gap.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Princeton University, May 2010. “The Institutional Dynamics of Transition Relief.”
  • Society for Environmental Law and Economics (SELE) Annual Meeting, Emory University, March 2010. “Against Feasibility Analysis.”
  • University of Illinois Advanced Seminar in Law and Economics, February 2010. “Against Feasibility Analysis.”
  • University of Illinois Faculty Workshop, February 2010. “Costly Intellectual Property.”
  • Midwestern Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, September 2009. “Well-Being Analysis.”
  • Intellectual Property Scholars Conference, Plenary Session, Cardozo Law School, August 2009. “Differential Process Costs and the Creation of Intellectual Property.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, University of San Diego, May 2009. “Costly Screens and Value Asymmetries.”
  • Society for Environmental Law and Economics (SELE) Annual Meeting, University of British Columbia, March 2009. “International Agreements and Internal Heterogeneity: The ‘Two Chinas’ Problem.”
  • University of Pennsylvania Law School, Pennsylvania Law Review Intellectual Property Symposium, January 2009. “Institutional Design at the Patent and Trademark Office.”
  • Junior Administrative Law Scholars Conference, University of California-Berkeley School of Law, August 2007. “Process Costs and Passive Screening.”
  • American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) Annual Meeting, Harvard Law School, May 2007. “Judicial Deference and the Credibility of Agency Commitments.”

Additional Activities

Awards

  • Graduating Students Teaching Award, 2014, 2017 & 2022
  • Class Award, 2016, 2021, 2023, & 2024

Membership and Professional Affiliations

  • American Law and Economics Association; Program Committee, 2017 Annual Meeting
  • Law and Society Association

Editorial Work

  • Referee: Journal of Legal Studies, Journal of Law & Economics, American Law & Economics Review, Harvard University Press