PFF is here in Prague co-hosting the second Digital Europe conference with the Czech-based CERGE-EI and the Liberalni Institute. Not surprisingly, we are here talking about intellectual property, appropriately in a room constructed by a 19th Century Czech railroad baron.

The impulse to hold this conference is straightforward: intellectual property rights will be the most important international issue involving private law for the next century. Like the evolution of the Law Merchant and Law of the Sea, the treatment of intellectual property in and between countries will determine how economies evolve, where capital flows and how innovation occurs. The questions are extraordinariy difficult, and the political economy pressures are immense.

All that, and it is extraordinarily cold here. Lesson #1: hold conferences in the Spring.