Why Creativity and Ownership Are Crucial to Innovation | IPWatchdog Unleashed

This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed, we speak with James Edwards, a property rights advocate, lobbyist and now also the author of the book To Invent Is Divine: Creativity and Ownership, which addresses the disconnect between the attributes of creativity and ownership and human innovation, technological progress, and practical benefits from human creativity and ownership being combined.

Earlier in his career, Jim was a staffer in both the Senate and House. He now regularly consults corporations, trade associations, and nonprofits, and serves as a mentor to start-ups and early-stage companies. He participates in the Medical Device Manufacturers Association’s Patent Working Group, and as Co-Director of the Inventor’s Project, he was instrumental in the formation of the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Inventions Caucus. Jim is also a frequent guest author on IPWatchdog.com.

During our conversation we explore the erosion of property rights in the United States, which has negatively impacted intellectual property rights, and we discuss why creativity and ownership in combination are together the key to maximizing innovation, which is the fundamental premise of Jim’s new book is currently available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million.

“There’s just a disconnect and the a misunderstanding of the role of patents and IP and really that’s what one of the the main things I try to stress in my new book. We’re talking about property that did not exist. There’s something much larger and more fundamental about the the existence of creativity and the inherent ownership that normatively connects with each other. Ownership has to come with creativity. If you’ve got creative ability but you don’t have ownership of what you make that doesn’t work. If you have ownership but you don’t have creativity you don’t have solutions.”

We also spend time speaking generally about how it is getting ever more difficult to bring people together to make positive change given that we live in a world today where so many people are unwilling to compromise. This is a change from years ago when getting “half a loaf of bread” was something politicians and stakeholders would see as a win, as was famously the case when President Reagan negotiated with Speaker of the House tip O’Neill. But how do you talk with people on the other side of the aisle so they can understand your perspective?

“It takes trying to put yourself in their shoes and it’s really a difficult conversation to begin with,” Edwards said. “It’s a difficult conversation throughout and it’s a cdifficult conversation at every point because there is a divide on the the underlying assumptions on each side and there those are at odds… So, the the discussion on XYZ bill today or ABC regulation tomorrow— it’s the underlying assumptions, theirs in my view are flawed, mine are right, and they seem the exact opposite of that. So, it’s having the willingness to listen to them and sometimes they have valid points and sometimes they don’t but it’s how you treat them. Do you give them a fair hearing and assess what they say on the on the merits as you see them? And that’s really the means of of getting to legislative or policy progress because without that you’re just talking past each other.”

We also spend time talking about how many of the alleged problems with the patent system have nothing to do with patents or patent law, but are instead trade related problems. The concern on the part of Americans relating to paying higher prices for prescription drugs in the United States compared to other countries is a legitimate concern, it just isn’t a patent concern. “Its a trade problem,” Edwards explained. “And an absence of spine on the part of the United States to demand different.” Edwards goes on to explain that most of the other countries often cited as having lower drug prices than in the United States are either socialist systems, or they are heavy handed regulatory, centralized government systems that have have monopsony power and engage in unfair negotiating practices.

So, without further ado, we invite you to listen to full conversation. You can listen to our full discussion wherever you get your podcasts (links here) or you can visit IPWatchdog Unleashed on IPWatchdog.com. You can also watch the video below, or on the  IPWatchdog YouTube channel.

EDITED May 28, 2025 at 9:37am ET to indicate that Jim’s book is now available, deleting references to “forthcoming” and “pre-order”.

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