The Cato Institute will continue its exploration of the vigorous debate about copyright and intellectual property at a book forum at 12 noon on Monday, November 10th, featuring Michele Boldrin (author of Against Intellectual Monopoly) and Rob Atkinson, Founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The event is free of charge and you're encouraged to attend or watch the event live online. Cato's Jim Harper has written about the event here. According to his blurb:
Michele Boldrin and his coauthor David K. Levine argue that intellectual property laws are costly and dangerous government grants of private monopoly over ideas. Their book Against Intellectual Monopoly seeks to show through theory and example that these legal regimes are not necessary for innovation and are damaging to growth, prosperity, and liberty.
As we said before, Arts+Labs falls on the side of those who believe that artists have a right to be compensated for their work. It is an important part of our mission "to ensure that artists and innovators can easily and effectively share their creativity through new distribution channels online, secure in the confidence that their rights will be respected and their ingenuity rewarded."
In testimony to the Senate Finance Committee earlier this year, Rob Atkinson pointed out the following:
As a net exporter of manufacturing know-how as intellectual property, the United States is more dependent on protection of intellectual property (IP) than other nations. Over 50 percent of U.S. exports depend on some form of IP protection, compared to less than 10 percent 50 years ago.
The ideas in Against Intellectual Monopoly pose an obvious challenge to this source of American economic strength. You can hear both sides at the Cato Institute Book Forum, noon on November 10th.
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