Chicago's Best Ideas: "The True Cost of Patents"
1,766 views · Published 4 February 2011 · 1:00:57 · Indexed 31 October 2026
Channel: The University of Chicago · 2011 · Education
Patents encourage innovation by granting inventors exclusive rights to sell their inventions. The resulting monopoly profits are a reward for innovation. It is commonly thought, however, that these monopoly profits price some consumers of inventions out of the market. This loss of consumption is an "efficiency" cost of patents. Thus, according to the conventional wisdom an optimal patent regime should balance the value of innovation to those who can purchase it against the efficiency cost of lost consumption to those who cannot purchase it. In our CBI talk, we question whether patents result in foregone consumption and reject the conventional tradeoff that drives optimal patent policy. We argue that there exist contractual mechanisms, such as health insurance and patent pools, that mitigate or stop consumers from being priced out of the market for innovations. Instead, the main concern with patents is that it transfers wealth from consumer s to inventors. Presented by Anup Malani, Professor of Law and Aaron Director Research Scholar at the University of Chicago, and Jonathan Masur, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago ➡ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGOytSubscribe About #UChicago: Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. #UChicago on the Web: Home: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGO-homepage News: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGO-news Facebook: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGO-FB Twitter: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGO-TW Instagram: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGO-IG University of Chicago on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/uchicago *** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please email [email protected].
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