Adam Mossoff’s work on patents was recently discussed in a Wall Street Journal blog post entitled What Smartphone Makers Can Learn From the Sewing Machine Patent War by David Zax. It begins:

The smartphone market is highly lucrative, has many competing players, and involves countless patents. In other words, it’s a recipe for lawsuits. In the last month alone, Microsoft lobbed a suit at Motorola, who in turn sued Apple. Nokia and HTC both have sued Apple, and Apple has sued both Nokia and HTC.

The web of competing claims on smartphone technology might seem a uniquely 21st-century problem. But according to legal scholar Adam Mossoff, the smartphone woes are reminiscent of a forgotten 19th century legal melee: the Sewing Machine War.

It’s a quick look into some fascinating history that’s very relevant to policy debates about patents today. So go read it!

If you’re interested in these thorny and crucial questions about intellectual property, I strongly recommend that you join Adam Mossoff’s upcoming webcast. You have until November 6th to pledge, and the details can be found in this post. This evening, I’ll set up Google Moderate for the people who pledged enough to participate in the asking of and voting on questions. (Those pledgers will get an e-mail from me with the URL.)

If you’d like to pledge, here’s the form:

I’m really excited about this lecture, and I do hope that you’ll join us!