hollywood

Actor Patrick Dempsey plays Dr. Derek Shepherd, a surgeon on the ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy. Washington University surgeon Susan E. Mackinnon advised the show on scenarios involving a hand injury suffered by the character.

Should movies and television shows be free on the Internet? Which business models will benefit artists, producers and distributors? Questions such as these are being pondered in a popular course at Olin Business School, “The Economics of Entertainment.” Industry executives visit the class to provide corporate insights about the challenges facing film and music makers in the Internet age.

The Supreme Court’s decision April 30 to raise the bar for patents on products combining elements of pre-existing inventions is a landmark in the battle against so-called “nuisance patents” and just one more sign that the tide is turning against overly restrictive and costly intellectual property right protections, suggests a pair of economists from Washington University in St. Louis.

Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computers, has issued a challenge to the music industry, saying Apple would support an open online music marketplace if the four-largest music companies would drop the use of digital-rights management software — the technology that prevents the copying of music sold online. Jobs’ challenge, which some consider shocking, is just the latest brick to fall in the inevitable collapse of a legal wall that since 1999 has been obstructing technological progress and preventing people from enjoying more and better music at a lower price, suggests Michele Boldrin, Ph.D., an economist at Washington University in St. Louis who studies the hidden costs of intellectual property rights protections.