Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Friday said the rising importance of ideas as the key force behind economic development is driving a debate on whether legal protections are adequate for the times.
In prepared remarks to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research in Stanford, California, Greenspan said times have changed since the major worry was guarding plants and manufacturing equipment.
"Because they have a material existence, physical assets are more capable of being defended by police, the militia or private mercenaries," he noted.
"By contrast, intellectual property can be stolen by an act as simple as broadcasting an idea without the permission of the originator."
A text of Greenspan's remarks, which made no mention of the US economic outlook or monetary policy, was issued in Washington.
His comments were nearly identical to a speech he delivered by satellite in April 2003 to an economics conference in Sea Island, Georgia.
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