Fantasy and reality in intellectual property policy

[Commentary] What do we really know about the costs of violations of intellectual property for national economies? Or, conversely, about the economic benefits of strengthening copyright, trademark and patent protection? You could be forgiven for thinking that we know a great deal.

Once you get beyond the government’s fabricated statistics and the industry groups’ fanciful ones, the answer to that question is far from obvious. In fact, government action to shore up one business model may produce net welfare losses to society as a whole. The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently asked for comments on the enforcement of intellectual property rights online. One hopes that the answers it received were more substantive, nuanced and data-rich than those that have dominated the discussion so far. Fantasy figures make for nightmarish policy choices.