1. Intellectual Property: History and Basics

2. Thomas Jefferson writes a letter On property: “It is agreed by those who have seriously considered the subject, that no individual has, of natural right, a separate property in an acre of land, for instance. By an universal law, indeed, whatever, whether fixed or movable, belongs to all men equally and in common, is the property for the moment of him who occupies it, but when he relinquishes the occupation, the property goes with it.”

3. Thomas Jefferson writes a letter He continues: “Stable ownership is the gift of social law, and is given late in the progress of society. It would be curious then, if an idea, the fugitive fermentation of an individual brain, could, of natural right, be claimed in exclusive and stable property.”

4. Thomas Jefferson writes a letter Finally: “Considering the exclusive right to invention as given not of natural right, but for the benefit of society, I know well the difficulty of drawing a line between the things which are worth to the public the embarrassment of an exclusive patent, and those which are not.”

5. The Jefferson Warning 1.Intellectual property rights are not the same as tangible property rights 2.There is no entitlement to intellectual property rights 3.Intellectual property rights should not be permanent 4.Intellectual property rights are monopolies over ideas 5.Designing intellectual property rights is difficult

6. Thomas Babington Macaulay In order for books to be written, authors must be paid through either patronage or copyright Patronage is rejected as a solution Copyright is a legal monopoly Monopolies create costs to society – They tax all citizens by the high price of goods and by the exclusion from a line of work. Adam Smith

7. The Economics of Property Occupation vs. ownership – Renting vs. owning Rivalrous property – One that cannot be owned by multiple parties simultaneously – What is not rivalrous? Excludable – One where it is possible to keep people from acquiring the property – What is not excludable? Why do these distinctions matter?

9. Counter Arguments Experiences with tangible property (rivalrous and excludable) transferred to intellectual property Natural rights It is of me – I created it, I designed it, I thought it up, it was my hard work – But how long should it be yours? Beyond death?

10. Interpreting Policy Another issue for policy design is whether it can be consistently interpreted and enforced – How does society decide if you own “2 – 1 = 1”? What if someone already determined “1 + 1 = 2”? – How much overlap is too much for copyright? Clearly more than one word, note, brush stroke? Can you think of counter examples? What will new technology do to the boundaries assumed by the policy?

11. Why Intellectual Property? What is the basis of intellectual property? Natural law arguments – We own what we create – But for how long – should Shakespeare's or Plato’s descendents own their writings? Economic (utilitarian) arguments – We want to motivate creators – Who determines motivations?