The intersection of the intellectual property and competition laws presents uniquely complicated legal issues. The entries, from leading judges, government officials, academics, and economists, explore history, the 'new economy', and frameworks to resolve the tension between the laws. They also address refusals to license, patent pools, innovation markets, standard setting organizations, and pharmaceutical patent settlements.

On their broadest level, the IP and antitrust laws aim to increase societal welfare. But they do so in different ways. The foundation of the IP system is the right to exclude. This right allows inventors to recover their investment costs and to obtain profits. Relatedly, it discourages "free riders" who imitate the invention and - because they have no investment costs to recover - undercut the price. The right to exclude, in short, is designed to increase innovation. The very exclusion at the heart of IP nonetheless might seem suspicious to antitrust, which focuses on harms to competition. The antitrust laws presume that competition leads to lower prices, higher output, and more innovation. They anticipate that certain agreements between competitors or conduct by monopolists prevents consumers from enjoying these benefits. In Innovation in the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law, Michael Carrier contends that intellectual property and antitrust, the two most important laws fostering innovation, are not being used most effectively to achieve this goal and offers various proposals that individually and collectively remedy this deficiency.

In recent years, innovation has been threatened by the United States legal system. Much of the blame can be attributed to the antitrust and intellectual property laws. Innovation for the 21st Century seeks to reverse this trend, offering ten revolutionary proposals, from pharmaceuticals to peer-to-peer software, to help foster innovation. Michael A. Carrier illustrates the benefits of improving the patent system and incorporating innovation into copyright and antitrust law. He also dips into a rich business literature to import ideas on "disruptive innovation" and "user innovation." And he replaces the 20th-century view that the IP and antitrust laws are in conflict with a new 21st-century framework that treats them as collaborators.
Innovation for the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law provides a comprehensive framework for the patent, copyright, and antitrust laws to promote innovation.