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 […]
Tag Archives | innovation
How entrepreneurial should the state be?
By 24 September 2013 38
In a chapter that I wrote in 2008 for the book “Intellectual Property and the Theories of Justice” (edited by A. Gosseries, A. Marciano and A. Strowel), I summarize how economists generally explain that the state has a role in promoting innovation. The problem with activities generating information or knowledge is that they suffer from […]
Innovation and economic growth
By 23 September 2013 12
The central role that innovation plays in driving economic growth is well known thanks to the pioneering work of Robert Solow (Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics in 1987). In his seminal 1957 paper, Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function, Solow described what would later be known as the neoclassical growth model (a.k.a. the Solow–Swan or exogenous growth model). […]
How to make innovation drive economic growth?
By 25 September 2012 99
The central role that innovation plays in driving economic growth is well known thanks to the pioneering work of Robert Solow (Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics in 1987). In his seminal 1957 paper, Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function, Solow described what would later be known as the neoclassical growth model (a.k.a. the Solow–Swan or […]
The smartphone patent wars and competition policy
By 25 April 2012 13
Last Wednesday (April 18, 2012), Lucy Koh, a US District Court Judge, may have paved the way towards a truce on one of the fiercest fronts of what is now commonly known as the “Smartphone Patent Wars”. She ordered Tim Cook and Choi Gee-Sung, the CEOs of Apple and Samsung, to meet and work out […]
What to think of ‘patent trolls’? The return
By 31 October 2011 76
In a previous post last year, I was presenting different views on so-called patent trolls, which are sometimes defined as “companies that do not invent anything but instead purchase patents and use them to sue big companies with deep pockets” (paidcontent.org). This negative view of patent trolls is widely shared nowadays and has prompted President Obama and the […]
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: […]
What are the global intellectual property issues today?
By 3 February 2011 9
Every two years the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) publishes its blockbuster: the roadmap on IPR issues. The 2012 issue (the 11th edition) is now available at http://www.iccwbo.org/products-and-services/trade-facilitation/ip-roadmap (ICC, Current and emerging intellectual property issues for business. A roadmap for business and policy makers, ICC, 2012) This roadmap offers a list of issues that are […]
On parle des Patent Trolls à la radio…
By 27 December 2010 0
J’ai eu l’occasion de m’exprimer jeudi dernier (23/12/2010) à propos des patent trolls sur les ondes de la RTBF (dans l’émission EcoSoir qui suit le journal parlé de 19h sur La Première). Vous pouvez écouter le sujet de Dominique Delhalle en cliquant sur le lien ci-dessous : EcoSoir-La Première-23déc2010_Trolls
Markets for technology: big hopes and … big difficulties
By 27 October 2010 31
(Original publication: October 2010; updated in November 2012) It is widely agreed that one of the main economic roles of IP law is to create exclusive rights: exclusivity allows innovators to appropriate the returns from their invention and it is the prospect of such returns that gives them the incentives to engage in […]