In an article published the New York Times on October 7, 2012, Charles Duhigg and Steve Lohr give a critical view of the current state of the US patent system: Patents are vitally important to protecting intellectual property. Plenty of creativity occurs within the technology industry, and without patents, executives say they could never justify spending fortunes on […]
Tag Archives | incentives
The economics of copyright protection
By 2 October 2013 54
A few weeks ago (September 14, 2013), the blog American Thinker published quite a vocal piece, entitled “Copyright Strangulation”, condemning the current scope and length of the US copyright law. According to the author, Mike Konrad, Copyright law in America gives individuals, and corporations, a paralyzing stranglehold on our culture. Though its proponents claim that it […]
What can you find in a cartoon? About the rationale of intellectual property
By 29 September 2011 22
I thank a friendly blog (S.I.lex) devoted to IT and IP issues for drawing my attention to the above cartoon. It originates from a funny site where Mimi & Eunice discuss very serious issues of Intellectual Property. Also worth to be underlined: the traditional ‘copyright notice’ (©, name, date) is replaced by a lovely: […]
Is the US patent system sick? Discussion about ‘Patent Medicine’
By 21 September 2011 34
On August 15, Google bid $12.5 billion to acquire the Motorola Mobility mobile phone business. This deal raises a few questions. 1. What are the various reasons behind this acquisition? To respond to this question, you might start here. In your response, you should focus on the legal aspects. You will discover that intellectual property […]
What is the link between competition and innovation?
By 24 September 2010 105
In an article published in 2004 in The Economist (and later reproduced in the book ‘The Future of Technology’ pp. 107-110), one can read the following: “On the record, any top executive in the IT, consumer-electronics and telecoms industries today will profess that his firm is leading the way towards simplicity. But are those claims justified? […]