Patents stop people doing things. So why are they a good thing? by UCL Sound

UCL Lunch Hour Lecture: Patents stop people doing things. So why are they a good thing?

The Rt. Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob (UCL Laws)

Date: 6th March 2012

The public debate about patents is old and never stops. Here is what Jeremy Bentham said: "So long as men are governed by unexamined prejudices and led away by sounds, it is natural for them to regard Patents as unfavourable to the increase of wealth. So soon as they obtain clear ideas to annex to these sounds, it is impossible for them to do otherwise than recognise them to be favourable to that increase: and that in so essential a degree, that the security given to property can not be said to be complete without it'. This lecture puts the debate in modern context and shows why Bentham was right.

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