MGT Notes

Legal Aspects of Managing Technology, 5e, Burgunder, Pg 4

As we saw in the previous post, it is necessary to provide useful property rights to inventors so that they are motivated to invent and disclose their inventions to the public. These laws are required to strike a balance between the social benefits of free competition (better products, lower prices) and motivation for inventors (rights to use and prevent others from using inventions). One may argue that enforcing these laws inhibits free market competition. However, the goal of maintaining a balance between these forces is to provide an overall benefit to society.