Motivation

David

Thanks for pushing me to think about IP issues in a different light. Intuitively, I would have thought criminal sanctions would harm a sense of community among inventors. I think you are right that the number of allegations of willful infringement would be curtailed. However, I’m not sure why companies would not simply use threats of criminal allegations to reach a favorable settlement rather than willingly disarm (even in a MAD scenario). There may be ways to design the system so as to encourage disarmament.

Also, doesn’t the idea of a criminally culpable infringer mirror the concept of a sole inventor?

Steven

I really enjoyed reading your paper – I thought it was very insightful and clear. Reading your essay made me think of the article we read for our first class on the different motivations of scientists. I think that your argument applies nicely to the motivations of inventors and artists but how does intrinsic motivation, shaped by a republican ethos, attract the people who finance their work? Perhaps a system based on your principles would increase the number of innovators or improve the quality of their work to such a degree that the selfish, rational investor will also benefit.

Would trade secrets have to be abolished in order to ensure information enters a robust republican public domain? I would guess it would need to be abolished since it is even more harmful to the idea of maintaining a community than conventional IP regimes.

Jonathan

Forgive my lack of comments on your paper. I know very little about its subject and I haven’t been able to really distill the questions that I have. Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute more in class.

TO ALL

Thank you so much for the comments on my draft! See you tonight!