|
With intellectual property widely acknowledged
today as a key component of economic development, those
accused of stealing knowledge and information are also charged
with undermining industrial innovation, artistic creativity,
and the availability of information itself. How valid are
these claims? Has the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement ushered in a new, better
era? Christopher May and Susan Sell trace the history of
social conflict and political machinations surrounding the
making of property out of knowledge.
Ranging from ancient commerce in Greek poems
to present-day controversies about online privacy and the
availability of AIDS drugs in the poorest countries, May
and Sell present intellectual property law as a continuing
process in which particular conceptions of rights and duties
are institutionalized; each settlement prompts new disputes,
policy shifts, and new disputes again. They also examine
the post-Trips era in the context of this process. Their
account of two thousand years of technological advances,
legal innovation, and philosophical arguments about the
character of knowledge production suggests that the future
of intellectual property law will be as contested as its
past.
Christopher May is professor of political
economy at Lancaster University. His recent publications
include The Information Society: A Sceptical View
and A Global Political Economy of Intellectual Property
Rights: The New Enclosures? Susan K. Sell is associate
professor of political science at George Washington University.
She is author of Private Power, Public Law: The Globalization
of Intellectual Property Rights and Power and Ideas:
North-South Politics of Intellectual Property and Antitrust.
|
