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The Acceptable Face of Intervention: Intellectual Property in Posnerian Law and Economics

2006; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 15; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0964663906066895

1461-7390

David Campbell, Sol Picciotto,

Innovation Policy and R&D

This is a review article of Landes and Posner's The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law (2003). It argues that their defence of intellectual property is not reconcilable with the stance they have elsewhere taken towards government intervention. IP rights are government interventions in market allocations, and their justification is in terms of optimising the social welfare function. As such they should be subject to many of the criticisms LP despite being, as we will see, conscious that the entire edifice rests on the weakest of foundations.