Saul Levmore, "From the Wheel to Open Source Software: Growth and Property Rights"

Reasonably secure property rights are widely understood as important for economic growth, though it is also understood that interest groups and politicians can benefit from particular configurations of rights. What might change in a world where intellectual property dominates? How should we expect innovators to be motivated in the next century? The history of the evolution of property rights, and of the roles played by courts and legislatures in defining these rights, offers clues about our legal and technological future.

Saul Levmore is William B. Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 12, 2010, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.