Today, there is significant public debate over patents on the digital processes and machines that comprise computer software programs. These are often referred to as “software patents,” but this is an odd moniker. Aside from the similarly mislabeled debate over “DNA patents,” nowhere else in the patent system do we refer to patents on machines or processes in a specific technological field in this way; for instance, people do not talk about “automobile brake patents” or “sex toy patents” as their own category of patents deserving of approval or scorn. Read more
Category: Copyright
How Copyright Drives Innovation in Scholarly Publishing
[Cross posted at Truth on the Market]
Today’s public policy debates frame copyright policy solely in terms of a “trade off” between the benefits of incentivizing new works and the social deadweight losses imposed by the access restrictions imposed by these (temporary) “monopolies.” Read more
Summary of Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons by Professor Chris Newman
Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, U.S. Supreme Court, decided March 19, 2013
Chris Newman
Assistant Professor of Law
George Mason University School of Law
This is best described as a decision in which the Court felt compelled to choose between two readings of the Copyright Act, either of which led to unpalatable results. Read more
Where Are the Creators? Consider Creators in Copyright Reform
Note: This post was cross-posted at the CATO Unbound on 2/1/2013. The January 2013 issue of CATO Unbound feature a debate on copyright reform, Opportunities for Copyright Reform This post responds to the discussion in that issue, but it also stands alone as a critique of copyright reform proposals that favor to consider the importance of creators. Read more
The “Common Law Property” Myth in the Libertarian Critique of IP Rights (Part 2)
[Cross Posted to Truth on the Market on December 12, 2012]
In Part One, I addressed the argument by some libertarians that so-called “traditional property rights in land” are based in inductive, ground-up “common law court decisions,” but that intellectual property (IP) rights are top-down, artificial statutory entitlements. Read more
The “Common Law Property” Myth in the Libertarian Critique of IP Rights (Part 1)
[Cross Posted to Truth on the Market on December 7, 2012]
In libertarian critiques of intellectual property (IP) rights, such as copyrights and patents, it’s common to the hear the claim that “traditional property rights in land” is based in inductive, ground-up “common law court decisions,” but that IP rights are top-down, artificial statutory entitlements. Read more
Copyright Reform Through Private Ordering
Note: This post was cross-posted at the CATO Unbound on 1/14/2013. The January 2013 issue of CATO Unbound feature a debate on copyright reform, Opportunities for Copyright Reform This post responds to the discussion in that issue, but it also stands alone as a critique of copyright reform proposals that fail to understand how copyright’s nature as a property right allows for tremendous flexibility via private ordering
Derek Khanna’s lead essay, as well as his memo for the Republican Study Committee, urge libertarians and conservatives to rally around copyright reform as both good policy and good politics. Read more
Copyright, Economic Freedom and the RSC Policy Brief
Cross-posted to the Copyright Alliance Blog
A few days ago, the Republican Study Committee signaled, and then retreated from, a vast change in the GOP’s attitude toward copyright. It released and then retracted a now infamous policy brief entitled “Three Myths about Copyright Law and Where to Start to Fix It. Read more