To Invent Is Divine: Creativity and Ownership

James R. Edwards, Jr., Ph.D., Founder and CEO of ELITE Strategic Services, L.L.C., consults on intellectual property, antitrust, health, and transportation policy. He plays leadership, strategic, and advisory roles on IP, particularly patents. Edwards consults to corporations, trade associations, and nonprofits, and has mentored start-ups and early-stage companies, many in med tech. He participates in the Medical Device Manufacturers Association's Patent Working Group. As Co-Director of the Inventor's Project, he was instrumental in the formation of the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Inventions Caucus. In 2017, Jim founded the coalition Conservatives for Property Rights, made up of center-right organizations representing a cross-section of the Conservative Movement. CPR emphasizes the importance of property rights in every form of private property. He serves as CPR's Executive Director. Edwards contributes articles to IPWatchdog.com and has been published in such outlets as Intellectual Asset Management magazine, IEEE-USA's Insight, the Washington Times, Real Clear Policy, and The Hill. His other publications include author of a noted monograph, Property Rights: The Key to National Wealth and National Security; Restoring " Morning in America" to Regain Industrial Competitiveness (2018); coauthor of The Congressional Politics of Immigration Reform (Allyn & Bacon, 1998) with James G. Gimpel, which was nominated for the Hardeman Prize; and contributor to several edited volumes. Jim Edwards is involved in various IP projects and appears in the documentary film, Innovation Race (2022), which is about the vital role IP plays in America's contest with China for global technological leadership. Jim has spoken across the country on IP, invention, and innovation, including at conferences, such as the Licensing Executives Society USA & Canada and SCBIO, and at Faith & Law and First Baptist Church of Dallas's Discipleship University. He began working on IP policy in the 1980s as a legislative aide on Capitol Hill, first in the U.S. Senate and later in the U.S. House of Representatives. Edwards was selected as a 1998 Lincoln Fellow of the Claremont Institute and was awarded an Eagle Award in 2017 by Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund. Edwards, a South Carolina native, holds degrees from the University of Georgia and from the University of Tennessee.