The Economist has an issue on IP. Unfortunately, we’re all going to have to go out and buy it, because most of the articles are for subscribers only on the website. But I’ll certainly be buying one.

The last few times I’ve seen an Economist article on IP, it’s had a decidedly ‘IP has limits’ kind of ring to it – they even appeared to endorse, once, the Lessig proposal for dealing with copyright term extension. But this time might be different – the one article that is freely available summarises the issue thus:

This survey will argue that, despite […] adjustment problems, the huge changes in intellectual property currently taking place in the IT sector will in time produce more efficient markets. But what do the IT firms themselves make of it all?


UPDATE: Rusty has some comments here, with a general perspective on the strength of the special feature.