Industrial Policy - Intellectual Property Division

Just ordered: Blaxill & Eckardt, The Invisible Edge: Taking Your Strategy to the Next Level Using Intellectual Property (Portfolio, March 2009).

The Press Release on the book says:

America`s vast storehouse of IP reserves form the backbone of the country`s global competitiveness - the U.S.`s "Invisible Edge." They may be overlooked and undervalued by both business people and policymakers, but they are the fuel that powers the economy in good times and helps it bounce back from bad times.
. . . .
But America is on the Verge of Squandering its IP Lead by Repeating Past Mistakes

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, in the name of "competition," regulators at the FTC forced some of America`s leading companies to open their patent portfolios to the world. According to Blaxill and Eckardt: "The result was a flood of goods from foreign companies - made with American know-how that was obtained essentially for free."
 . . . .
They recommend a national "innovation policy" that includes:

* Protecting the U.S.patent system and the renewable strategic reserves that it generates.
* Sustaining America`s terms of trade and defending the pricing of America`s invisible assets through regulation and legislation.
* Adapting the USPTO to the needs of the modern patent development process.
* Building talent locally through quality science and engineering education.
* Providing incentives for inventive talent to live and work in the U.S.
* Making science and engineering financially rewarding careers.
* Supporting returns on invisible asset investments.

It looks like an interesting read. A White Paper on patent reform that may encapsulate the main points of the book is here.