Sharing Nicely

James Boyle reminds us how awesome the world wide web really is, and warns that we would most likely not be creating something as wonderful today. This hits a nerve. I have spent some time recently looking at Economic research on patents and it turns out that patents are — especially in the case of developing countries — largely useless. Useless, as in, they don’t do what they are supposed to do, which is to spur innovation through a careful balance between public disclosure and temporary monopoly rights. However, if one listened to the international debates at WIPO or the WTO (the two organisations that practically “own” intellectual rights – pun intended) it seems that either the experts have not read any of the research or they just don’t care. Finding out WHY they don’t care and HOW that could be changed is the real challenge.