Adam Mossof's Argument Analysis

Adam Mossof, a professor of Law at George Mason University, constructs three fundamental arguments surrounding intellectual property. The three arguments being first that all property at root is intellectual, second that the protection of intellectual property rights resulted in the Industrial Revolution, and finally that the patent system allowed the United States to surpass many countries in GDP. To form these arguments, he begins by defining the various types of intellectual property such as patents, copyright, trademark, and trade secrets. Mossof argues the development of these protections encouraged innovators, especially those seeking to profit from their inventions, to continue designing new apparatuses. Then he provides the legal, Roman

Mossof explains that every form of production requires some form of mental labor before physical labor can occur. To support his argument, he uses the example of a farmer starting a farm. Before a farmer can begin planting seeds, irrigating soil, and harvesting crops he must first conceptualize the idea and create a plan. A farmer must look at the land and seeds he has and create a plan of production to create something, therefore the crops he produces is the result of his mental labor. Mossof attributes all of society’s property to mental labor which works for the majority of property except natural resources in which Jean Jacques Rousseau would argue belongs to us all. The significance Mossof places on mental labor is similar to Bareto’s theory which states, “… the entrepreneur has been cast as a fundamental agent in production, distribution, and growth…” An entrepreneur is an individual who is responsible for developing new products, innovating manufacturing processes, and acquiring new sources of raw materials. Society places value on mental labor which is reflected in the salary of CEOs, consultants and other managerial or executive positions. Almost every product we see in today’s market is the realization of an idea in someone’s head. Without the presence of mental labor manufacturing processes and innovation would likely not exist resulting in the severe limitation of our

The Industrial Revolution took place between 1760 and 1840 where predominantly agrarian societies became industrialized due to improved manufacturing processes and greater innovation. Britain underwent rapid economic growth due to the institutions set in place which provided incentives to innovators. Britain established a patent system in 1624 which saw an exponential rise in the number of patents during the 1750s. This initial patent system lasted for 14 years and for the monopolization of certain goods which guaranteed profit for the inventor. Not only did it incentivize innovators to continue inventing but also investors to take larger risks. Because patents guaranteed profit if the product had demand on the market investors we more comfortable taking larger risks because the payout would be sizable. However, a weak point in Mossof’s argument is his lack of quantitative data to support his claim primarily because the quantitative contradicts his claim. Between the year 1720 and 1799 only 1,942 patents were enrolled which is approximately 25 patents each year. This indicates that during the early portion of the Industrial Revolution patents weren’t largely used and most of the innovations of this time were left unpatented. Therefore, patents weren’t seen as necessary for profit-seeking