Does Intellectual Property Protection Mean Pursuit of Patent Perpetuity?

The two books reviewed in this essay vary greatly in style and content, but both deplore the present state of the American patent system and use historical material only to buttress their complaint. Lawyer Matsuura views Jefferson's ambivalent attitude toward patents as based in his populism, while economists Boldrin and Levine argue that patents are both unnecessary and pernicious in their effect on invention and innovation. The authors of both books think James Watt was a bad guy.