Legal/Government

Intellectual property and innovation

My previous post about protecting databases and stifling innovation is keenly supported by Wired's "The Eagle Is Grounded" article. They draw a parallel between the US shipping industry and the intellectual property industry:

the Merchant Marine Act of 1970, which provided new protections and massive subsidies for the industry. As President Richard Nixon described it, the act would "replace the drift and neglect of recent years and restore this country to a proud position in the shipping lanes of the world."

It didn't work. Today, US carriers handle barely 2 percent of international cargo. The industry is dominated by nations like Panama and Liberia, so-called flags of convenience, where regulations are lighter and costs lower.

. . .

The US is in danger of repeating the mistake, this time with intellectual property. In the face of new technologies and competition, the US is toughening patent and copyright protections. It's leaning on other countries - and its own citizens - to play by ever tighter rules. But if it's not careful, the US will drive its intellectual property offshore into a shadow world that, like shipping, is replete with piracy and rogue states.

Wow. 2% -- I've long been talking about lots of IP business moving oversees. Steel production has left the US. Shipping is gone. Software engineering is being moved to India. R&D budgets are slim. Education budgets are constantly trimmed. I think you can probably get a better education in India than in the US.

I'm scared of what happens if you extrapolate this trend. The only thing I see is a total meltdown of the US -- invasion by the Chinese no longer seems so far fetched if they have the manufacturing capabilities and know-how that we've proudly shipped to them.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently -- I think it's almost time to write my thoughts down in some coherent essay.

Posted by Mayhem at January 28, 2004 03:17 PM