Breadth of Coverage for Intellectual Property Law : ENCOURAGING PRODUCT INNOVATION BY BROADENING PROTECTION

Innovation policy has received little attention in the business press. The business press generally focusses on how to play the game of ew products best, rather than considering how the rules of the game might be changed. Might it be possible to stimulate more innovation by reforming intellectual property law? A growing part of the economy (e.g. services, information technology) is only weakly protected under current intellectual property law. One possible way to encourage innovation is by extending coverage to these products, broadening legal protection to cover new product ideas for a short period. Small companies and individual entrepreneurs would benefit most from this broader but shorter protection.