encourage

Over his career Thomas Edison garnered more U.S. patents than anyone in his time. Edison profited from his patents, but he was also exposed to the dark side of the patent system. He had to contend with lawsuits by other patentees who sought – and sometimes won – a piece of his success. While the patent system is designed to spur innovation like Edison’s, it also hampers it. Easy copying and imitation discourage innovation, because why make the effort if someone else will profit from it? The patent system works by enabling inventors to block unauthorized use of patented technology. Most technologies are developed by many inventors over many years, a process called “cumulative” innovation. Too often, however, early inventors get a patent on a small and perhaps insignificant piece of the te...

Working in meatpacking plants has always been dangerous. A recent study shows that it became deadlier in the era of COVID-19, even as company profits soared. This analysis, published in December 2020, estimates that 6%-8% of all COVID-19 cases and 3%-4% of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. were tied to meat and poultry plants. Workers in these facilities stand close together on processing lines, which makes social distancing difficult. At the same time, companies like Tyson, which produces chicken, beef and pork, and JBS, which produces beef and pork, are reporting high earnings despite COVID-related challenges such as plant closures. I am a law professor and have written about links between lax state and federal enforcement of health and safety laws and increased rates of COVID-19 infect...

Tag: encourage

It’s Designed To Encourage But The Patent System Often Stifles Innovation

Policies That Encourage Workers To Show Up Sick Are Legal – Meatpacking Plants Have Been Deadly COVID-19 Hot Spots