Hot Property: The Stealing of Ideas in an Age of Globalization by Pat Choate

From the author of the best-selling Agents of Influence--a striking examinations of the ways in which our economy is being drained through intellectual property theft. Pat Choate looks at the history of intellectual property in the United States starting with the first protections written into the Constitution. He interweaves the stories of Eli Whitney, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison to illustrate how the United States transformed itself from a largely agricultural society into a manufacturing, scientific, and technological superpower, giving rise to further copyright and trade secret protection laws. He traces the emergence of Germany, Japan, and China as rivals to American primacy through copying, counterfeiting, and underpricing American products and media. He reveals the shockingly meager effectiveness of current efforts to defend American businesses from corporate espionage. And he sounds a powerfully convincing warning that the general disinterest of our government toward the security of American intellectual property is already affecting job security and the economy in general (an estimated $2 billion is lost each year to counterfeit films, music recordings, and books in China alone). Provocative and often scathing in its criticism, Hot Property is certain to be one of the most widely discussed books of the year.

Author: Pat Choate

Language: English

Binding: Hardcover

Pages: 368

Publisher: Knopf

Publication Date: 2005-04-26