The Menace of Privilege

Speaking here of drugs Congress likes– patented pharmaceuticals– the GAO says:

Intellectual property protections are designed to help encourage innovation by providing financial incentives to engage in research and development efforts.

but, according to some experts interviewed by GAO

intellectual property protections enable companies to earn significant profits while reducing the incentive to develop more innovative drugs.

Nothing really new here. GAO wasn’t asked to provide any recommendations.  Full report is here.

…can have fatal results. Another example occurred in Chicago Friday, when a man who apparently expected great wealth to result from his idea decided he’d been ripped off by his patent lawyer. The AP article implies that the “idea” wasn’t worth much, but wouldn’t disasters like this be avoided if nobody expected to become wealthy just by monopolizing an idea?