Chris Sprigman

Abstract

Imagine a job where you spend your days teaching, writing, and thinking about the legal issues posed by red-soled shoes, stand-up comedy routines, and football plays. Christopher Jon Sprigman—a law professor specializing in the study of the effects of legal rules on innovation and the deployment of new technologies—has that enviable job. He finds that creativity in such intensely innovative and imitative industries as fashion, music, sports, entertainment, cuisine, and open-source software tends to thrive best where intellectual property protection is least stringent.