Why Creativity, Ownership and Innovation are Crucial
If you have creative ability but don’t own what you make, it doesn’t work. If you’ve got creative ability but you don’t have ownership of what you make that doesn’t work.”
This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed, we speak with James Edwards, a property rights advocate, lobbyist and now also the author of the forthcoming book To Invent Is Divine: Creativity and Ownership, which addresses the disconnect between the attributes of creativity and ownership and human innovation, technological progress, and practical benefits from human creativity and ownership being combined.
Earlier in his career, Jim was a staffer in both the Senate and House. He consults with corporations, trade associations and nonprofits. He also serves as a mentor for start-ups and companies in the early stages of development. Jim is also a frequent guest author on IPWatchdog.com. Jim is also a frequent guest author on IPWatchdog.com.
“There’s just a disconnect and the a misunderstanding of the role of patents and IP and really that’s what one of the the main things I try to stress in my new book. We are talking about property which did not exist. There is something fundamentally more important and larger about the connection between creativity and ownership. Ownership must come with creativity. If you have creative ability, but don’t own what you create, it won’t work. If you have ownership but you don’t have creativity you don’t have solutions.”
We also spend time speaking generally about how it is getting ever more difficult to bring people together to make positive change given that we live in a world today where so many people are unwilling to compromise. This is a big change from the days when politicians and stakeholders saw getting “half a bread” as a victory. A famous example was when President Reagan negotiated tip O’Neill, Speaker of the House. But how do you talk with people on the other side of the aisle so they can understand your perspective?
“It takes trying to put yourself in their shoes and it’s really a difficult conversation to begin with,” Edwards said. “It is a difficult conversation from beginning to end and at every point, because there are underlying assumptions that are different on both sides. It’s about being willing to listen. Sometimes they have valid arguments and sometimes not, but it’s all about how you treat them. Give them a fair listen and do you assess their arguments as you see fit? It’s the only way to make progress in legislative or policy matters. Otherwise, you’re just talking over each other.” It is legitimate for Americans to be concerned about paying higher prices in the United States than other countries. However, this is not a patent issue. Edwards said that the problem is a trade issue. “And an absence of spine on the part of the United States to demand different.” Edwards goes on to explain that most of the other countries often cited as having lower drug prices than in the United States are either socialist systems, or they are heavy handed regulatory, centralized government systems that have have monopsony power and engage in unfair negotiating practices.
So, without further ado, we invite you to listen to full conversation. You can listen to the full discussion on IPWatchdog Unleashed at IPWatchdog.com or wherever you get podcasts. You can also watch the video below, or on the IPWatchdog YouTube channel.
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Gene Quinn
Gene Quinn is an expert on patent law, innovation policy and patent law. Mr. Quinn was twice named as one of the 50 most influential people in the world
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