States have authority for IP interventions – also leads to follow on

Madison's point would seem equally applicable to other varieties of intellectual property. Indeed, today, most commentators would acknowledge the national government's authority to regulate all forms of intellectual property by virtue of the constitutional grant to Congress of the power "to regulate Commerce ... among the several States. " 5 But the existence of authority is one thing, its exercise quite another. Here the historical dynamics of American federalism are important. The vast domain of federal power has not been fully occupied, and accordingly, outside the realm of patent and copyright, the states do play a role in the regulation of intellectual property. Moreover, state-based protections have occasionally penetrated even these core federal areas. There are various reasons for continued state intervention in at least certain intellectual property areas. Some stem from the states' established role in governing property rights and relations in general. Another, which forms one focus of this paper, derives from the U.S. tradition of looking to the states as "laboratories" for the development of the law and social policy. 6 According to this tradition, state courts and legislatures experiment locally with evolving rights and modes of regulation. Subsequently, the local experience may form the basis for adoption of the same or similar laws by other states, and perhaps ultimately by the national legislature.