Rethinking Property in 'Intellectual Property': The Case of Biomedical Innovation
Interactive Workshop
Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, 23 September 2010, 11.00 – 17.00
Organiser: Dr. Lubomira Radoilska, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge
Workshop review: The event offered an opportunity for constructive dialogue between people with different academic and professional backgrounds, interested in intellectual property. Participants included: philosophers, lawyers, anthropologists, medical professionals, scientists, and representatives of NGOs.
We explored key arguments about the nature, scope, and permissibility of private intellectual property. Biomedical patents provided a focal point for the discussion and were compared with other categories of intellectual property and, in particular, copyright.
The issues, we addressed included:
- Is the term ‘property’ helpful in thinking about patents and copyright? Would our intuitions about their nature and significance change considerably if we were to conceive them in terms of monopolies, prizes, or grants?
- How does the incentive-based understanding of intellectual property rights relate to alternative justifications, pointing to liberty, fairness, or desert? Are they mutually exclusive?
The discussion helped advance our systematic understanding of intellectual property beyond disciplinary boundaries and led to identifying several promising lines of thought:
- The critical analysis of the concept of intellectual property is sometimes presumed to imply an indirect challenge to the existing regime of intellectual property whilst its ambition is different: to promote clear thinking and a reflective stance toward the institution. Awareness of this possible misunderstanding is crucial in order to foster productive, non-partisan approaches to intellectual property;
- The history of intellectual property across different jurisdictions could offer valuable insights into the variety of interests that intellectual property rights may be reasonably expected to protect;
- A comprehensive analysis of intellectual property and its significance should include an inquiry into the nature and moral standing of corporate agents because an important cluster of concerns about intellectual property stem from the fact that patents and copyright are transferred to organisations rather than retained by individual inventors and authors.
Downloadable resources:
Acknowledgement: This event was supported by the Wellcome Trust (Grant Ref.: WT090858/Z/09/Z).
Samuel Palmer, The Magic Apple Tree, 1830
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