@article{452964,
      author = {Raustiala, Kal. and Sprigman, Christopher.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/452964},
      title = {The knockoff economy : how imitation sparks innovation /},
      publisher = {Oxford University Press,},
      abstract = {"Conventional wisdom holds that intellectual property  rights are essential for innovation. But are copyright and  patents really necessary to spark creativity? In The  Knockoff Economy, Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman  provocatively argue that creativity can not only survive in  the face of copying, but can thrive. The Knockoff Economy  approaches the question of incentives and innovation in a  wholly new way--by exploring creative fields that do not  rely on legal monopolies, such as fashion, cuisine, and  even professional football. By uncovering these important  but rarely studied creative worlds, Raustiala and Sprigman  reveal a nuanced and fascinating relationship between  imitation and innovation. In some creative fields copying  is kept in check through informal industry norms enforced  by private sanctions. In other cases, the freedom to copy  actually promotes creativity. High fashion gave rise to the  very term "knockoff," yet imitation only makes the fashion  cycle run faster--and forces the fashion industry to be  ever more creative. Raustiala and Sprigman carry their  analysis from food to font design to football plays to  finance, examining how and why each of these vibrant fields  remains innovative, even in the face of sometimes-extensive  imitation. There is an important thread that ties all these  instances together--successful creative industries can  evolve to be resistant to, and even to profit from, piracy.  And there are important lessons here for copyright-focused  industries, like music and film, that have struggled with  piracy. Raustiala and Sprigman's arguments have been making  headlines in The New Yorker, the New York Times, the  Financial Times, the Boston Globe, Le Monde, and elsewhere.  By looking where few had looked before--at industries that  fall outside normal IP law--The Knockoff Economy opens up  fascinating creative worlds. And it demonstrates that not  only is a great deal of innovation possible without IP, but  that IP's absence is sometimes better for innovation"--},
      recid = {452964},
      pages = {272 p. :},
      address = {Oxford [U.K.] ;},
      year = {2012},
}