The Big Steal

Ideology, Interest, and the Undoing of Intellectual Property
In The Big Steal, Jonathan Barnett documents the unusual confluence of ideological commitments and business interests behind the across-the-board dilution of legal protections for inventors and artists under U.S. patent and copyright law. Concurrently with the rise of the digital economy and platform-based markets, the Supreme Court, Congress, and antitrust regulators significantly weakened legal protections against the unauthorized use of technological inventions and creative works. Under the popular slogan that "information wants to be free," significant portions of the scholarly and tech communities advocated and welcomed the erosion of property rights in knowledge markets. This policy shift often relied on incomplete or premature findings that concerning the impact of robust intellectual property rights on innovation markets. Through a rich analysis that draws on law, economics, and political science, and using evidence from a wide range of technology and creative markets, Barnett shows that the depropertization of intellectual assets poses a risk to the U.S. and global innovation ecosystem by shifting economic value toward digital intermediaries and vertically integrated entities and away from the technology and content originators that drive the most robust knowledge economies.

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.