In recent years, business leaders, policymakers, and inventors have complained to the media and to Congress that today's patent system stifles innovation instead of fostering it. But like the infamous patent on the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, much of the cited evidence about the patent system is pure anecdote--making realistic policy formation difficult. Is the patent system fundamentally broken, or can it be fixed with a few modest reforms? Moving beyond rhetoric, Patent Failure provides the first authoritative and comprehensive look at the economic performance of patents in forty years. James Bessen and Michael Meurer ask whether patents work well as property rights, and, if not, what institutional and legal reforms are necessary to make the patent system more effective.

Patent Failure presents a wide range of empirical evidence from history, law, and economics. The book's findings are stark and conclusive. While patents do provide incentives to invest in research, development, and commercialization, for most businesses today, patents fail to provide predictable property rights. Instead, they produce costly disputes and excessive litigation that outweigh positive incentives. Only in some sectors, such as the pharmaceutical industry, do patents act as advertised, with their benefits outweighing the related costs.

By showing how the patent system has fallen short in providing predictable legal boundaries, Patent Failure serves as a call for change in institutions and laws. There are no simple solutions, but Bessen and Meurer's reform proposals need to be heard. The health and competitiveness of the nation's economy depend on it.

This new edition fully reflects all the latest developments in this complex area, including important changes in 2004 American Jobs and Working Families Tax Acts. These include changes affecting:

- partnership basis adjustments
- transfers to partnerships of property with built-in losses
- sale of an interest in a partnership with built-in loss property
- disproportionate distributions from partnerships with built-in loss property
- expensing and amortization of partnership organizational expenses
- partnership treatment of the deduction for domestic production activities
- recognition of cancellation-of-indebtedness income, and more

In six parts, Partnerships and LLCs: Tax Practice and Analysis covers the critical aspects of this complicated area, with individual parts focusing on partnership characteristics, funding, taxation of operations, partner's share of partnership debt, disposition of partnership interest, and distributions. From choice-of-entity considerations to sales and liquidations, the entire breadth of partnership and LLC taxation is covered. Special attention is given throughout to the complex inter-workings of rules that bind, tax and control these entity operations.

In the book's first part focused on preliminary considerations, the basic underpinnings are presented covering key areas such as the "check the box" rules, "anti-abuse" rules, investment joint venture rules, the application of partnership taxation to LLCs, liability issues, passive loss limitations, audit issues, self-employment taxes, IRS classification, tax year and accounting method selection, and much more.

The second part of Partnerships and LLCs: Tax Practice and Analysis looks at property contributions and disguised sales, transactions between partner and partnership, and formation and start-up expenses. A special summary table for the tax treatment of pre-opening expenses is included.

Next, the central core of the book explains the taxation of operations including partnership income rules, the pass-through concept, and the partner's share of income and debt. Specific rules, reporting and compliance issues are thoroughly addressed. Form 1065 and schedules L, M-1, M-2, K and K-1 are also explained.

Part four covers partner's share of partnership debt, while disposition of a partnership interest is the subject of the fifth part of Partnerships and LLCs: Tax Practice and Analysis. This section covers the amount and character of the seller's gain or loss, sales of partnership interest when the partnership holds ordinary income property and the effect of sale of partnership interest on the partnership. The final part covers distributions, including nonliquidating, liquidating, special distribution exceptions, and disproportionate distributions. This section also includes coverage of the death or retirement of a general partner and special rules for service partnerships.

The detailed and substantial coverage in the text is enhanced by the abundant illustrations and special aids to understanding, such as flowcharts, offered throughout. Partnerships and LLCs: Tax Practice and Analysis should find a welcome place with all tax practitioners.