Rate My Professor Colleen Chien

Chien conducts cross-disciplinary research on innovation, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, and the criminal justice system, emphasizing empirical analysis to harness technology for social benefit. Her work examines patent litigation, patent-assertion entities (a term she coined), the secondary patent market, equity in innovation, algorithmic bias, access to justice, and the second chance gap in criminal records relief. She founded and directs the grant-funded Innovator Diversity Pilots Initiative and Paper Prisons Initiative. Among the top 20 most-cited U.S. intellectual property scholars, her key publications include 'From Arms Race to Marketplace: The Complex Patent Ecosystem and Its Implications for the Patent System' (Hastings L.J. 2010), 'Of Trolls, Davids, Goliaths, and Kings: Narratives and Evidence in the Litigation of High-Tech Patents' (N.C. L. Rev. 2008), 'America’s Paper Prisons: The Second Chance Gap' (Mich. L. Rev. 2020), 'Improving Equity in Patent Inventorship Through Increased Attention and Attribution' (Science 2023), and 'Patents, Holdup, and the Public Interest' (Cornell L. Rev. 2012, with Mark Lemley). Chien has received the American Law Institute Early Career Award, Intellectual Property Vanguard Award, Eric Yamamoto Emerging Scholar Award, National Law Journal Tech Trailblazer, and recognition among the 50 Most Influential People in Intellectual Property.