Intellectual Property

Perhaps the best feature of the U.S. patent system is mandatory disclosure, where patent filers must disclose the innovation. While innovators tend to prefer secrecy to keep a competitive edge, [...]

Rent Check Despite the ease of communication provided by the internet, close physically proximity among inventors still provides a significant boost to innovation.   News and Commentary Electric Frontier Foundation's [...]

Despite the ability of the internet to connect virtually anyone anywhere, physical proximity still matters a great deal for innovation. Neighbors, coworkers, or fellow happy hour patrons are instrumental in [...]

Rent Check Our current copyright system requires screening software like YouTube's ContentID, but the largely automated nature of the software enables extortionists to threaten unsuspecting YouTubers.   News and Commentary [...]

YouTube’s ContentID system, despite costing the company $100 million to date, is notoriously error-prone. Even if an alleged infringement is a false positive, users who upload such content can easily [...]

Rent Check A new study finds that making users of expensive infringing content aware of a cheaper alternative to the original image used leads to a fourteen-fold increase in the [...]

Part of the success of iTunes, in an era where Napster showed how to share content for free, was due to the fact that many users don’t want to “steal” [...]

Rent Check How copyright enabled the rightsholders of "Imperial March" to profit from a Darth Vader fan film, whose creators secured permission by promising Disney they wouldn't profit from the [...]

When it comes to intellectual property (IP) and economic development, a similar paradox to the “chicken or egg” dilemma exists: while many economists argue that strong IP protection is essential [...]

The Disney Corporation is a notoriously litigious firm, with most of their lawsuits based on copyright infringement. (In their book Against Intellectual Monopoly, Michele Boldrin and David Levine entitle one [...]