There is a ton of ongoing research and opinion concerned with the evolution of both intellectual property protection and the use of IP laws to thwart innovation among competitors. This book of scholarly research on IP addresses the question of "how to create incentives to develop new technologies and how to protect those technologies, once developed, from theft," according to editor Gary D. Libecap.
A number of IP heavy hitters, both from academia and government, are represented here, including Bharat Anand, Constance Bagley, and Josh Lerner from Harvard Business School. Lerner's piece, written with Jean Tirole, looks at the roles and motivations of programmers participating in open source projects. Bagley, writing with Gavin Clarkson, explores the rights and responsibilities granted to the holders of patents, copyrights, and trade secrets, while also proposing a way toward dispute settlement. Anand and coauthor Alexander Galetovic examine the problem of weak property rights, and suggest that the problems of piracy faced by the digital media will spread into other industries.
Other subjects cover trends in patent litigation, joint venture contracts, and alternative strategies for protecting IP investment.
Although the book has "entrepreneurship" in the title, this work is more intended for the entrepreneur's IP lawyer or the serious student. That said, the tone is both serious and scholarly.
This is volume fifteen from the Elsevier series Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth.—Sean Silverthorne