As noted here, “Ayn Rand’s newsletters used to end with a “Horror File” of monstrous but true quotations.” Along those lines, it’s time to collect some choice trademark horror stories in one place. The main post will be here, on the Mises Blog, but I’ll cross-post the initial post here too. But look there for […]
The new book Innovation, Intellectual Property, and Economic Growth, by Christine Greenhalgh & Mark Rogers, looks interesting: What drives innovation? How does it contribute to the growth of firms, industries, and economies? And do intellectual property rights help or hurt innovation and growth? Uniquely combining microeconomics, macroeconomics, and theory with empirical analysis drawn from the […]
Libertarianism Today, by legal scholar J.H. Huebert, will be published in July by Praeger. I’ve seen draft copies of the manuscript, and believe me, this will be a terrific book. It’s the only concise guide to modern libertarianism that is soundly grounded in Austrian economic, anti-state, anti-war, and decentralist principles. The $44.95 price may be […]
In Authors: Beware of Copyright, Jeff Tucker warns authors to be careful with their publication agreements not to alienate their books and other works. A good illustration of this peril is found in the case of Buddy Holly and his recording contract with Decca. As reported in Buddy Holly’s secretly recorded contract negotiation with Decca, […]
Free-market economist Professor William F. Shughart II attempts to defend the need for IP in “Ideas Need Protection,” The Baltimore Sun (Dec. 21, 2009) (previously published in the Christian Science Monitor). Subtitled “Abolishing Intellectual-property, Patents Would Hurt Innovation: A Middle Ground Is Needed,” the piece suffers from flaws found in others defenses of intellectual monopoly […]
From Mises blog; archived comments below. Patent lawyer Gene Quinn has been sued by Invention Submission Corporation (dba Invent Help) in the United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York. The complaint … alleges that I have engaged in false and misleading advertising that has cost Invent Help business. They apparently […]
As Huebert notes in his post Fighting IP Absurdity: The South Butt Strikes Back, the saga of The North Face Apparel corp. vs. The South Butt continues. As noted on his attorneys’ website, The South Butt is the local case of a Missouri teeanager, Jimmy Winkelmann, frustrated with his classmates’ sheep-like following of a popular […]
In response to my Reducing the Cost of IP Law, my friend and ex-colleague (and mentor) Steve Mendelsohn, a patent lawyer in Philadelphia, wrote me the following. N.B.: Steve is not a libertarian but is honest and smart, unlike patent shills (he’s also an excellent patent attorney, if you need one). Here’s an edited version of […]
From Mises blog; archived comments below. No, not me. Michael F. Martin, a patent attorney with Drinker Biddle. The March 2010 issue of Liberty (which also features a letters exchange regarding my December 2009 Liberty article, Intellectual Property and Libertarianism) features the following guest reflection by Mr. Martin: Sane and sound — “The hallmark of […]
My article “Intellectual Property and Libertarianism” was published in the December, 2009 issue of Liberty; the March 2010 issue features the following exchange in the “Letters” section. [Update: See Roderick Long’s excellent response to the type of argument Yeager makes below, in his post This Self Is Mine. See also my post “Libertarians” Who Object […]
