Introduction

This book is about patent intermediaries. The reader might ask why a book and not a collection of articles, and the question deserves a personal answer. It is true that articles are much more popular in the academic and professional markets. A vast and growing publishing industry offers scholars and practitioners a wide array of options. Business journals flourish, as do other venues for publication. Nor are all published articles alike. Although most fade after a short time, famous and memorable articles continue to inspire scholars. While efficient and productive for rapid dissemination of new ideas, articles—whether classics or contributions riding the latest trend—suffer the same limitations. Their scope is typically narrow, and their format and length fairly standardized. They also lack the space and expansive structure to give readers a broad, complex perspective on a topic. The common approach of the article has both strengths and weaknesses. Specificity enables sound scientific control by the scholarly community and contributes to cumulative knowledge but by definition limits the range of discussion around multifaceted issues.