Should we just get rid of intellectual property law altogether? IP scholar Paul Heald, joining us from his home in Illinois, doesn’t think so. But what should we do about patent trolls? Is it even feasible to create virtual fences around ideas? Paul suggests that patent should work a bit more like copyright (which we all think is broken) and should be used to encourage exchange. The conversation ranges from trade secrets, to programmers, to the invention of the airplane. Turning to the runaway train that is copyright law, Paul tells us his spouse was a plaintiff in the disastrously decided Eldred v. Ashcroft. We talk about Paul’s studies of bad audiobooks, the public domain, the copyrighting of the bible, and a long-forgotten playwright named Shakespeare. Could the public domain, if copyright were sensibly limited, compete substantially with new works? Christian says “more and more” a lot. Paul previews his new study, which involves adult films.
This show’s links:
Paul Heald’s faculty profile (http://www.law.illinois.edu/faculty/profile/paulheald) and writing (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=227781)
Paul Heald, A Transaction Cost Theory of Patent Law (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=385841)
This American Life, When Patents Attack, Part 1 (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack) and Part 2 (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/496/when-patents-attack-part-two)
Ronald J. Mann, Do Patents Facilitate Financing in the Software Industry (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1507543)
Paul Heald, Optimal Remedies for Patent Infringement (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1278062)
Lawrence Solum, Legal Theory Lexicon: Property Rules and Liability Rules (http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2008/11/legal-theory--7.html)
StackExchange (http://stackexchange.com)
Mark A. Lemley, The Surprising Virtues of Treating Trade Secrets as IP Rights (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1155167)
Charlotte Hess and Elinor Ostrom, _Understanding Knowledge as a Commons — From Theory to Practice. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Introduction (http://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/9780262083577_sch_0001.pdf)
The Wright brothers patent war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers_patent_war)
Eldred v. Ashcroft (http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12147684852241107557)
Lawrence Lessig, How I Lost the Big One (http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/March-April-2004/story_lessig_marapr04.msp)
Paul Heald, How Copyright Makes Books and Music Disappear (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2290181)
Paul Heald, The Public Domain (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2362983)
Rufus Pollock, Forever Minus a Day? Calculating Optimal Copyright Term (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1436186)
Michael W. Carroll, One Size Does Not Fit All: A Framework for Tailoring Intellectual Property Rights (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1585464)
Special Guest: Paul Heald.