Conferences

The Economics and Law of Innovation
April 2-3, 2009 

Professors Charles McManis and Gerrit De Geest will be co-chairing an academic conference sponsored by the Center on Law, Innovation & Economic Growth (formally the Center for Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship) on the general topic The Economics and Law of Innovation.  The conference will begin on the morning of April 2 and conclude at noon on April 3.

Video Library

Attempting to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarship on the general conference topic, this colloquium endeavors in particular to critique a recent book authored by Washington University economists, Michele Boldrin and David Levine, entitled Against Intellectual Monopoly (Cambridge U. Press 2008), which can be accessed at http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/againstfinal.htm.

The larger objective of the conference will be to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarship on the general conference topic, and will feature the presentation of other papers and commentary addressing other facets of the economics and law of innovation.

The conference keynote presenter will be widely-recognized, preeminent scholar of intellectual property law, Professor Mark A. Lemley of Stanford Law School, whose keynote presentation is entitled “A Cautious Defense of Intellectual Oligopoly with Fringe Competition.”

Other conference participants include:

  • Scott Baker, University of North Carolina School of Law
  • James Bessen, Research on Innovation (Property as Regulation)
  • Michele Boldrin, Economics, Washington University
  • Gerrit De Geest, Washington University School of Law (Differences between Property and Intellectual Property)
  • Ben Depoorter, Boston University School of Law
  • John Drobak, Washington University School of Law
  • Hugo Hopenhayn, Economics, UCLA
  • David Levine, Economics, Washington University
  • Glenn MacDonald, Washington University, Olin School of Business
  • David McGowan, University of San Diego School of Law (Distinguishing Innovation from Variation and Creativity)
  • Charles McManis, Washington University School of Law
  • Michael Meurer, Boston University School of Law
  • Douglass C. North, Economics, Washington University
  • Randal Picker, University of Chicago Law School
  • George Selgin, Economics, University of Georgia
  • John Turner, Economics, University of Georgia (Commentator: On JamesWatts' Patent)
  • Thomas Ulen, University of Illinois Law School
  • Liza Vertinsky, Emory University School of Law

Receive up to 10 Missouri CLE credit for this event.

This conference is free and open to the public, however pre-registration is required. Click here to pre-register.

Questions?
Contact Karma Jenkins at 314.935.9490

Previous Conferences

Open-Source and Proprietary Models of Innovation:
Beyond Ideology - April 4-5, 2008

In 2005, IBM, owner of one of the largest patent portfolios in the world, announced that it is contributing 500 of its patents to what it hopes will become an industry-wide “patent commons,”[1] and is putting its corporate heft behind a popular open-source Web development technology in a effort to reach out to a broader set of developers.[2] Clearly, the open-source phenomenon has gone mainstream.

([1]See Paul McDougall, IBM Grants Open-Source Developers Use of 500 Patents, InformationWeek (Jan. 11, 2005), [more]. [2]See Martin LaMonica, IBM backs open-source Web software, c/net News.com (Feb. 25, 2005), [more].) 

Click here to view Conference information - includes links to view videos from the Conference
Click here to view abstracts

Conference on Commercializing Innovation
November 4-5, 2005

The Center for Research on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CRIE) held its inaugural directed research activity, an academic conference jointly sponsored by the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies, and organized by Professors Scott Kieff and Troy Paredes on the topic, Commercializing Innovation. 

Click here to view a list of all conference videos available on demand.

 

Washington University School of Law entrance

Intellectual Property Law