37
Jaffe & Lerner (2004), pp. 25–6, p. 34, pp. 74–5.
38
Both cases were eventually settled outside the court.
39
Jaffe & Lerner (2004), pp. 34–5.
40
Jaffe & Lerner (2004), p. 12.
41
The two professors also show that the number of patent suits initiated in the US were around 1, 000 per year until the mid-1980s, but are now over 2, 500 per year (Jaffe & Lerner, 2004, p. 14, figure 1.2). Given that patent suits are notoriously expensive to fight, this means that resource is diverted from generating new ideas to defending existing ones.
42
In a letter to Robert Hooke, dated February 5 1676.
43
Thus, Jefferson’s view of what we can and cannot own was the exact opposite of what we have today – he may have thought nothing of owning other people, but he found it absurd that people should be allowed to own ideas and have their rights protected through an artificial monopoly created by the government called patents.
44
Especially with ‘golden rice 2’, developed in 2005 by Syngenta, which now owns the technology, the benefits could be even greater. Golden rice 2 produces 23 times more beta carotene than the original golden rice.
45
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice. Xerophthalmia (Greek for dry eyes) is an inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye with abnormal dryness and corrugation (
46
On the golden rice controversy, see RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation International) (2000),
47
The IPR expenditure is cited in M.Wolf (2004),
48
Wolf (2004), p. 217.
49
As Joseph Stiglitz proposes, a public fund could also be set up to guarantee purchase of valuable inventions, such as life-saving drugs. J. Stiglitz (2006),
50
Allowing easier parallel imports may result in some reverse inflow of cheap copies from developing countries before the end of IPR life in developed countries, but there are ways to control them; copy drugs can be manufactured in different shapes and sizes from the originals, while special identification microchips may be implanted in the packaging for the originals to distinguish them from copies. For further discussion of issues related to making IPRs weaker in poor countries, see H-J. Chang (2001), ‘Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Development – Historical Lessons and Emerging Issues’,
*
Lincoln received US Patent #6, 469 for ‘A Device for Buoying Vessels Over Shoals’ on May 22 1849. The invention consists of a set of bellows attached to the hull of a ship just below the waterline. On reaching a shallow place, the bellows are filled with air and the vessel, thus buoyed, is expected to float clear. It was never marketed, probably because the extra weight would have increased the probability of running onto sandbars more frequently.
*
Law was born into a banking family in Scotland. In 1694, he had to flee to the Continent after killing a man in a duel. In 1716, after years of lobbying, Law was given a licence by the French government to set up a note- issuing bank, Banque Generale. His main backer was the Duc d’Orleans, Louis XIV’s nephew and the then regent for the child king, Louis XV, the great-grandson of Louis XIV. In 1718, Banque Generale became Banque Royale, with its notes guaranteed by the king. In the meantime, Law bought the Compagnie du Mississippi (the Mississippi Company) in 1717 and floated it as a joint-stock company. The company absorbed other rival trading companies and, in 1719, became Compagnie Perpetuelle des Indes, although it was still commonly called Compagnie du Mississippi. The company had a royal monopoly on all overseas trading.With Law launching high-profile settlement schemes in Louisiana (French North America) and generating rumours vastly exaggerating their prospects, a speculative frenzy on the company’s stocks started in the summer of 1719. The share price rose by more than 30
