Original version

BBC World Service Online

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Factual: Money

The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world

Tim Harford tells the fascinating stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world.

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy: Intellectual Property

Discussion & Talk

News

Intellectual Property

13/05/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy, Intellectual PropertySearch BBC

Intellectual property reflects an economic trade off when it comes to innovation

Intellectual property reflects an economic trade off. Too generous then good ideas will take too long to copy, adapt and spread; but too stingy and we might not see any good ideas

When the great novelist Charles Dickens arrived in America in 1842, he was hoping to put an end to pirated copies of his work in the US. They circulated there with impunity because the United States granted no copyright protection to non-citizens. Patents and copyright grant a monopoly, and monopolies are bad news. Dickens’s British publishers will have charged as much as they could get away with for copies of Bleak House; cash-strapped literature lovers simply had to go without. But these potential fat profits encourage new ideas. It took Dickens a long time to write Bleak House. If other British publishers could have ripped it off like the Americans, perhaps he wouldn’t have bothered. As Tim Harford explains, intellectual property reflects an economic trade-off – a balancing act. If it’s too generous to the creators then good ideas will take too long to copy, adapt and spread. But if it’s too stingy then maybe we won’t see the good ideas at all.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon

(Image: Copyright stamp, Credit: Arcady/Shutterstock)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Intellectual Property

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service