Everything from knockoff handbags to counterfeit pharmaceuticals counts as intellectual property piracy for Choate (The High-Flex Society
), the economic commentator who was Ross Perot's 1996 running mate. Citing at least $200 billion in annual losses to the U.S. economy, Choate identifies IP piracy as a grave threat, but finds the government doing almost nothing to stop it. In fact, he says, the White House all too frequently turns a blind eye to copyright and patent violations in other countries in exchange for other policy considerations. Following up on the well-regarded Agents of Influence: How Japan Manipulates America's Political and Economic System
(1990), Choate, in an aggressive analysis, identifies Japan, China and others as regularly stealing from American industry to boost their economies. He hits equally hard against American corporations that risk stifling innovation by lobbying for laws that minimize the benefits of patent protection for individual inventors. With a flair for the illuminating anecdote, Choate links the historical success of entrepreneurial innovators with America's rise to economic power, bringing in everyone from Noah Webster to the FDA, RCA, IG Farben, Dow and Hollywood. That, combined with a writerly passion, raises this well above the level of dry policy jeremiad. Even those who don't consider themselves "petty thieves" for illegally downloading songs off the Internet will be brought up short by Choate's careful delineation of the economic and social consequences of IP piracy on an international scale. 6-city author tour.
(Apr. 30)
