The World Cup finals begin in two days, so there is more football blogging to be had. Today’s topic: Innovation. Does football have too much of it, too little of it, or just the right amount?
This sort of question is often raised in the middle of debates about the relationship between intellectual property law and society at large. IP law seems to rely on the general premise that innovation is always socially valuable (”Progress,” to borrow the term from the US Constitution), so critics are quick to jump on examples of situations where innovation may have done more harm than good, or may have been been wasteful, or may simply have redistributed wealth without creating any new value. The best known recent illustration are the broad variety of innovative financial products developed by the wizards of Wall Street.
IP’s general “innovation is good” premise is subject to all kinds of checks, even within IP law itself, but it is nonetheless interesting (and fun!) to find “innovation is bad” stories in order to explore what, exactly, is going on. Are skeptics nostalgic for an older way? Fuddy-duddies who can’t adapt? Third parties injured by spillovers? Regulators overwhelmed by new complexity? Something else, or some combination?
To read the full, original article click on this link: Soccer Technology: Too Much Innovation?
Author: Mike Madison
