intellectual property

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In the NY TIMES, July 27, 2000, Hal Varian writes that >The music industry
argues that it cannot survive in its present form without additional
intellectual property protection. There is some justification for this
view. After the French Revolution, one of the first acts of the new
National Assembly was to eliminate copyrights. Within a few years, only
pornography and seditious material was being published. Though such
material can apparently survive any intellectual property regime, the
French had to reinstate copyrights to provide incentives to produce more
substantive works. < [see:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/columns/072700econ-scene.html ]

is this anecdote true? Michael P, what do you think of Varian's analysis?

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
"Leading a life of quiet desperation -- but always with style!"