Innovation and its Inverse Relation to Intellectual Property Law

A friend forwarded me an interesting article from Spiegel Online, which can be be found at http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,710976,00.html. It basically argues that German innovation exploded in the 19th century because its relative lack of copyright allowed ideas to flourish and grow, enabling its industrial revolution. The article contrasts Germany with Britain whose relatively strong copyright laws allowed printer monopolies caused books to cost more. If the author would have included the United States in his analysis, he would have likely noted how the American Industrial Revolution was highly dependent on that relative laxity of copyright and trademark in the young republic.

I also think there is something interesting here in relation to the Ipad, the kindle, and other e-book readers. I have wanted to buy one but I have hesitated because I am not sure which format will work best for my combination of scholarly, textbook, and pleasure reading. As content (i.e. books) gets cheaper, it seems like there is a greater corporate investment in intellectual property law regimes that confer monopolies to their owners. The result is that picking an e-reader limits your reading rather than unleashing it. It seems like the growth in I.P. law might be hindering the flourishing ideas. Of course, I am not the first person to oberve this. Nonetheless, I just keep seeing the negative effects of IP laws expansion!