"Students of intellectual property law are often steeped in the theory and practice of IP litigation. Record labels sue parodists and illegal downloaders, patent owners sue infringers, luxury brands sue counterfeiters, employers sue employees who leak their valuable secrets. All of these cases and the doctrines that they create could lead to a view of the world of intellectual property as a battlefield. Like armaments, firms acquire IP rights solely to attack others, to bludgeon competitors or extract rent from consumers. ...
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"Students of intellectual property law are often steeped in the theory and practice of IP litigation. Record labels sue parodists and illegal downloaders, patent owners sue infringers, luxury brands sue counterfeiters, employers sue employees who leak their valuable secrets. All of these cases and the doctrines that they create could lead to a view of the world of intellectual property as a battlefield. Like armaments, firms acquire IP rights solely to attack others, to bludgeon competitors or extract rent from consumers. But this view is wrong. It arises from the unfortunate fact that legal education emphasizes reported judicial decisions over all else, and judicial decisions arise from litigation. The reality, however, is that the vast majority of economic activity involving IP arises from transactions - business arrangements among firms and with consumers and, sometimes, the government"--
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