Symposium
Apr 03, 2013
Innovation for the 21st Century Symposium
March 30 – April 1, 2009
The topic of TOTM’s first blog symposium is Michael Carrier’s forthcoming book: Innovation for the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law (from Oxford University Press). Here is a description of the book’s contents from Professor Carrier:
Innovation for the 21st Century offers ten proposals, from pharmaceuticals to peer-to-peer software, that will help foster innovation. Of the ten proposals, three target antitrust topics that may be of interest to your readers: (1) settlement agreements between brand and generic firms in the pharmaceutical industry, (2) an innovation-markets framework to be applied to pharmaceutical mergers in which the “products” are in preclinical or clinical trials, and (3) standard-setting. The book also offers a primer on patent, copyright, and antitrust law, as well as the IP-antitrust intersection.
Each of the participants was asked to in a rather short time period to read the book and prepare a thoughtful and engaging post. Posts from Crane, Manne, Weiser, and Wright focus on aspects of Innovation for the 21st Century that deal with competition policy. Professors Frischmann, Kieff, and Crouch focus on the intellectual-property-related proposals. Professor Carrier also had the opportunity to respond. They all delivered marvelously. We are grateful to them for making the symposium a success and, we hope, enjoyable for our readers. We also thank Dennis Crouch for cross-posting at PatentlyO.
Most of all, we’d like to thank Professor Carrier allowing his work to come center stage in our first blog symposium effort. It is not easy to have one’s worked poked and prodded and critiqued from all possible angles.
This was a new experiment for TOTM and one that we plan on continuing to try in the future. If participants, commenters, or readers have comments or suggestions for possible future topics or for improving the format, we’d love to hear them via email or otherwise.
We do have one more exciting announcement about the symposium: The folks at the Alabama Law Review have generously offered to publish modified versions of the blog posts as essays in a forthcoming volume.
In This Symposium
Crane on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
Congratulations to Mike on a very fine book, which I must admit I am still in the process of digesting. I will confine my initial comments to Mike’s chapter on patent settlements (Chapter 15), which I understand will also be coming out as an article in the Michigan Law Review. Patent settlements involving “reverse payments” ... Crane on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
Weiser on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
It is trite to say that “we are all Schumpeterians now.” When it comes to appreciating the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship, however, we are. Schumpeter, unfortunately, did not leave a theory of innovation that lends itself to easy application to public policy prescriptions, as Brad De Long has explained so clearly. By so clearly ... Weiser on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
Manne on Carrier's Innovation in the 21st Century
Michael Carrier has written a timely and interesting book. Like Dan, I’m still digesting it (which means, in translation: I have not yet read every word). There is much to like about the book, in particular its accessible format and content. I do fear that it is a bit overly ambitious, however, hoping both to ... Manne on Carrier's Innovation in the 21st Century
Wright on Carrier's Innovation in the 21st Century
First, I want to join the rest of the participants in congratulating Professor Carrier on an excellent and well-written book emerging out of a thoughtful and ambitious project. The project, and the book, are provocative, important contributions to the literature, and usefully synthesize many of the most important debates in both antitrust and intellectual property. ... Wright on Carrier's Innovation in the 21st Century
Crouch on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
I am enjoying Professor Carrier’s new book Innovation in the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law. I will focus my discussion here on patent issues discussed in Part III of the book. As other commentaries have noted the book is long on conclusions and proposals but somewhat short on justifications for ... Crouch on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
Frischmann on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
I enjoyed reading Mike’s book very much. It provides an excellent primer on antitrust, IP, and innovation. He synthesizes the legal and economic foundations, contours, and controversies in an accessible fashion. I applaud him for doing this because frankly, it is tough to do given that the fields are quite technical and specialized. The book ... Frischmann on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
Kieff on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
I, too, join the rest of the participants in congratulating Michael Carrier on this great book about this great topic. I have enjoyed reading Michael’s work in the past and I enjoyed meeting him at a conference last year. He is a wonderfully warm, bright, and engaging person. Although I wish that I had more ... Kieff on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
Professor Carrier’s Response
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Josh Wright. Only because of Josh’s creativity and tireless, flawless execution did this blog symposium come about and run so smoothly. I also would like to thank Dennis Crouch, who has generously cross-posted the symposium at PatentlyO. And I am grateful for the ... Professor Carrier’s Response