"IP is often compared to physical property rights but knowledge is fundamentally different."

--IP Watch on Professor Joseph Stiglitz

Summary: In a talk about intellectual monopolies, Joseph Stiglitz explains what those trade provisions really are about

THE following talk, just highlighted by our regular contributor Fewa, is described as follows: "Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz speaks about his book, "Making Globalization Work." This event took place on October 13, 2006, at Google's Mountain View, CA, headquarters as part of the Authors@Google series."



The part about TRIPS begins 16 minutes into the video, but there are other portions worth learning about. We wrote about TRIPS [1, 2, 3, 4] in relation to ACTA [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14].

Other than the media, it is often said that the schooling systems are means for preparing the population to accept the point of view of those in power; it includes the patent system. People will hopefully use alternative sources of information like the Internet to learn how things really work and what their purpose is in practice. ⬆

"Patent monopolies are believed to drive innovation but they actually impede the pace of science and innovation, Stiglitz said. The current “patent thicket,” in which anyone who writes a successful software programme is sued for alleged patent infringement, highlights the current IP system’s failure to encourage innovation, he said."

--IP Watch on Professor Joseph Stiglitz