chosaq

“It’s the science, stupid.”

Back in December of last year, Peter A. Freeman, assistant director at the National Science Foundation, commented on a new agreement involving seven American universities to make software they develop collaboratively freely available, thereby reducing the cumbersome legal maneuvering over IP rights. Freeman applauded the effort, saying: “It’s the science, stupid. It’s not the intellectual property.”

When Prof. Freeman gave a lecture at Keio University’s Mita campus this morning, I asked him to elaborate a bit on the quote above. Freeman explained that he believed that IP laws and policies should encourage innovation — too much restrictions may kill vital projects. In the end, the goal of IP is to make us all richer, better and safer, he concluded. Nothing new here, but it’s good to see that a pioneer and heavyweight like Freeman absolutely “gets it”. (I wouldn’t expect otherwise.)