PFF will be releasing soon the presentations of all of our fellows speaking here. For now, a teaser. Tom Lenard just concluded a presentation looking at criticisms of patents and praises for open source, and found some merit in both areas but on the whole found that patents work better than alternatives from an economic perspective in ensuring maximization of innovation investment, and that open source, while having some success (Apache, Linux) is also challenged in maximizing incentives and further innovation. His conclusion:

1. We need a mechanism for appropriating the total value of innovation. 2. The costs of trade secrecy argue for patent protection. 3. We need to be vigilant about transactions cost problems associated with patents. 4. There is no perfect way.