Note to reader: This post is from an old blog called AbolishIP. See What was ‘AbolishIP’? for more information

It seems that total IP abolition is beginning to wedge its way into mainstream discussion. Jordan Weissmann at The Atlantic wrote a thoughtful, if short, piece on a paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (of all places) which argues against patent systems.

This refreshing position steps beyond the tired thesis that the system merely needs “reform”, suggesting all patent systems are bound to devolve into a rigid and overpowered beadledom, unilaterally favors existing players in a given market over new and innovative firms.

While academic and professional papers on the subject are certainly not unheard of, this is one of the first times I’ve seen a writer at a major media outlet favorably consider elimination of intellectual property. Perhaps writers like this will be the beginning of the end for the USPTO.

Source: The Atlantic