More patents are being granted in more countries than ever before. No shock there. What may surprise, though, is that the average quality of patents (as defined by a plausible index maintained by the OECD) has fallen significantly in the last decade. One possible explanation: more patents are …
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By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: OECD, patent trolls, patents | Category: Intellectual Property, Quick Takes |
 Leave a commentStill wondering why Google spent $12.5 billion and risked antitrust scrutiny in buying Motorola — at best, a come-back kid in the hypercompetitive world of smartphones and tablets? Wonder no more: Google is already using patents it obtained in the deal to defend an ally, handset maker HTC … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, Apple, Google, HTC, Motorola, patents | Category: Intellectual Property, Quick Takes |
One commentWe’re big fans This American Life, the NPR show that hardly ever fails to inform and surprise. So it’s great to be able to plug an episode “When Patents Attack,” a smart, balanced assessment of the benefits and costs of the patent system – in particular, the impact of former … Yes, we know that, with the help of Google (or Bing), economic statistics are generally pretty easy to find. But it’s worth taking note of the latest Web-based stats from the OECD: the 2010 Factbook of Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics. The data sets, which cover OECD members (and … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Blackberry apps, fisheries, iPhone apps, OECD, patents, R&D | Category: Economic Statistics, Quick Takes |
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Professor Dieter Helm (Oxford) is a very fine fly fisherman, and an even better economist. If you haven’t done so, take a look at his new book “The Carbon Crunch: How We Are Getting Climate Change Wrong — and How to Fix It” for a bit of unconventional wisdom. He argues that politicians and the general public have not shown any real interest in addressing climate change. Helm argues that places like Europe should focus on setting a price for carbon that would cover consumption (and not just production), and that fracking could be a good “bridge” technology for reducing consumption of coal. The book is readable and insightful for those interested in the inside track on climate policy. 
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