Ray Gifford and University of Haifa's Meir Pugatch didn't see completely eye to eye on IP protection on our final panel, "Openness and the Political Economy of Intellectual Property Policy." There was some common ground, however. Pugatch said one must always find the balance between having some IP protection to spur innovation and an avoidance of too much so as not to lock off information and prevent other innovation. Ray said both too much and too little IP protection is harmful. Ray's full presentation is available here.

Pugatch provided an interesting analysis of the multiple parties involved in IP policy debates in Europe and elsewhere. He said anti-IP activists (non-corporate types anyway) live for the campaign, so if the campaign ends either with success or failure they may drift away to another crusade. Businesses, by contrast, have long-term strategies in mind and take each success and failure in a given campaign as just another step in a long battle.

Now it's time for the reception. I've discovered Prague doesn't just make good beer, they have interesting aperitifs. I'm enjoying my research.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:29 AM | Digital Europe 2006

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