Economists and legal experts to discuss innovation during Center for Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship conference April 2-3

Scholars to discuss Boldrin and Levine's provocative book, Against Intellectual Monopoly

The Center for Research on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CRIE) at Washington University School of Law will host a conference on “The Economics and Law of Innovation” on April 2-3 in Anheuser-Busch Hall. The conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. each day, with the keynote presentation at 12:20 p.m. on Thursday.

The goal of the conference is to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarship on innovation.

The conference is organized and co-chaired by law professors Gerrit De Geest and Charles McManis, whose research focuses on law and economics and intellectual property, respectively.

“This conference is the third in a series sponsored by CRIE, and seeks to promote research on the intersection of law and innovation,” says McManis, director of CRIE. “The previous two conferences examined commercialization of innovation and open-source models of innovation. The inspiration for this conference was provided by the recent publication of Against Intellectual Monopoly, a provocative book that mounts a spirited challenge to the economic premises underlying intellectual property law. ”

As part of the conference, leading scholars in economics and the law will examine and discuss Against Intellectual Monopoly by Michele Boldrin, Ph.D., the Joseph Gibson Hoyt Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences and chair of the economics department, and David Levine, Ph.D., the John H. Biggs Distinguished Professor of Economics in Arts & Sciences.

In their book, Boldrin and Levine propose a drastic reform of the patent system. They suggest that intellectual property law should be restored to match the intent of the U.S. Constitution which states: Congress may “promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writing and discoveries.” More information about the book is available at http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/13656.html.

The conference keynote speaker, Mark A. Lemley, the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, will present “A Cautious Defense of Intellectual Oligopoly with Fringe Competition.”

Widely recognized as a preeminent scholar of intellectual property law, Lemley is an accomplished litigator—having tried cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and federal circuit courts—as well as a prolific writer with over 90 published articles and six books. His contributions to legal scholarship focus on how the economics and technology of the Internet affect patent law, copyright law, and trademark law.

This event is free and open to the public; registration however, is required.

For more information about the conference or to pre-register, visit http://law.wustl.edu/CRIE/conferences.

CRIE, initially funded by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation, will soon be renamed the Center on Law, Innovation & Economic