World IP Day celebrates Intellectual Property law in the arts, design, medicine and technology — and the protections that make them viable. For all the silly patents that infuriate and obstruct, it’s important to remember that real protections for inventions, musical compositions, novels and more help artists and inventors make a living and companies thrive. But the new globalism and its easy flow of information puts the protection of Intellectual Property increasingly at risk. So the emphasis on “world” in World IP Day becomes ever more vital. One major push among politicians is that IP be respected across international borders — and that all nations enforce IP protections.
President Obama got into the spirit of World IP Day by contributing a list (below) of his own favorites among great American inventions and works of art — things protected by IP. Edison and Toni Morrison make Obama’s list, along with Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather movies. And online Scrabble.
