LEGL 4200 - Intro

Exam 1

Four Basic Areas of IP

1. Trade Secret (protects information)

2. Patent (protects inventions and processes)

3. Copyright (protects creative endeavors in fixed forms)

4. Trademark (protects names and symbols that identify sources of goods or services)

Shift to Knowledge-Intensive Economies

Industrial v. Information Age

1. What is the primary output and 2. growth (patent example)? - Industrial v. Information Age

1. Carnegie & Rockefeller v. Dell & Jobs

2. 1980 (~2m US patents), 2025 (~10m US patents since 1980)

Why real property?

• Establishing boundaries of ownership

• Establishing bundles of interests that are separable from the physical embodiment of the property

• Efficiency -- Tragedy of the Commons

• Natural Law (Locke) – reward for labor, incentive for productive work

Differences from Real Property

• Rights: Possession (use and occupy), Mortgage, Lease, Sell, Subdivide, etc.

• It is “rivalrous.” There is value in exclusivity.

Differences from Personal Property

• Only one person can consume it! It is “rivalrous.” There is value in exclusivity.

• One party’s use of an idea doesn’t prevent another’s ability to control or enjoy it.

• Value as a function of scarcity.

• The is no ability to control an idea, since it cannot be used up (i.e., isn’t rivalrous).

• IP – Creates the ability to “control” and profit from an intangible.