Knowledge commons: an alternative to proprietary knowledge
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18537/mskn.08.01.04Keywords:
intellectual property, intellectual property rights, propietary knowledge, over-patenting, knowledge commonsAbstract
Intellectual property (IP) has become a crucial factor in scientific knowledge production which is based predominantly on profits and market relations facilitated by Intellectual property rights (IPRs). The result of this production is a ‘proprietary knowledge’, i.e. an over-patented knowledge which cannot be legally used or produced without the right holder’s consent. This work aims to ‘reopen’ the debate about IP recalling the ‘knowledge commons’ argument in order to affirm a diversity of ownership definitions, e.g. individual, multiple, collaborative, communitarian and public. The article introduces a brief analyse about the philosophy underlying IP – from authors such as Locke, Hegel and Marx – for a critical appraisal of theoretical and social aspects of knowledge property. The discussion presented about contemporary IP and its consequences for scientific production, includes the study of a biopiracy case involving the Waoranis, an Ecuadorean indigenous community, as an example of the ‘over-patenting’ of life and knowledge. Thus, in favour of the ‘knowledge commons’ argument, the paradigmatic case about the donation of the malaria vaccine patent is revised to show that it is possible to organise a scientific production guided by alternative criteria. The methodology used was the critical revision of primary bibliography and academic literature.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Andersen B, Rossi F (2011). Intellectual Property governance and knowledge creation in UK universities. Economics of Innovation and New Technology 20(8):701-725
Aristotle (1992). The Politics, revised and re-presented by Trevor J. Saunders. London: Penguin Books
Barnett A (2006). The new piracy: how West ‘steals’ Africa’s plants. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2006/aug/27/plants.theobserversuknewspages
Boyle J (2008). The public domain: Enclosing the commons of the mind. New Haven & London: Yale University Press
Braithwaite J, Drahos P (2002). Intellectual property, corporate strategy, globalisation: TRIPs in context. Wisconsin International Law Journal 20(3):451-480
Buckland W (1963). A text-book of Roman law from Augustus to Justinian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Carlyle AJ (1913). The theory of property in mediaeval theology. In: Gore C (Ed.), Property its duties and rights: Historically, philosophically and religiously regarded (pp. 117-132). London: MacMillan Publ. Co. Ltd
Comisión Nacional en Bioética en Salud [CNBS] (2014). Informe de la Comisión Nacional de Bioética en Salud de Ecuador respecto al caso de toma de muestras de ADN de Waorani. Quito. Retrieved from http://www.salud.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Informe
Council for Responsible Genetics [CRG] (2000). Actionbioscience. Retrieved from DNA Patents Create Monopolies on Living Organisms: http://www.actionbioscience.org/genomics/crg.html
David P (1994). The evolution of intellectual property institutions. In: Aganbegyan A, Bogomolov O, Kaser MC (Eds.), System transformation: Eastern and western assessments. Proceedings of the Tenth Congress of the International Economic Association. I. London: MacMillan Publ. Co. Ltd
David P (2001). Tragedy of the public knowledge ‘Commons’? Global science, intellectual property and the digital technological boomerang. MERIT- Infonomics Research Memorandum Serie (2001-003):1-36
David P (2008). The historical origins of 'Open Science': An essay on patronage, reputation and common agency contracting in the scientific revolution. Capitalism and Society 3(2):1-103
Defensoría del Pueblo de Ecuador [DPE] (2012). Recurso de revisión, resolución defensorial. Quito. Retrieved from http://repositorio.dpe.gob.ec/bitstream/39000/666/1/REV-024-DPE-2012.pdf
Donovan E (2002). Beans, beans, the patented fruit: The growing international conflict over the ownership of life. Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review, 25(1):117-142
Drahos P (1996). A philosophy of intellectual property. Aldeshot: Dartmouth Publishing
Dutfield G (2003). Intellectual property and the life sciences industries: A twentieth century history. Aldershot: Dartmouth Publishing
Fernández C (2014). El día que Patarroyo casi gana el nobel. El Tiempo. Retrieved from http://www.eltiempo.com/bocas/manuel-elkin-patarroyo-en-entrevista-con-revista-bocas/13748377
Gibbons M, Limoges C, Nowotny H, Schwartzman S, Scott P, Trow M (1997). The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. London: Sage
Halbert D (2005). Resisting intellectual property. London & New York: Routledge
Hardin G (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, New Series 162(3859):1243-1248
Hegel G (1967). Philosophy of right. London, Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press
Heller M (1998). The tragedy of the anticommons: Property in the transition from Marx to Markets. Harvard Law Review 111(3):621-688
Hess C, Ostrom E (2007). Understanding knowledge as a commons, From theory to practice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press
Hettinger E (1989). Justifying intellectual property. Philosophy and Public Affairs 18:31-52
Hilty R (2012). Individual, multiple and collective ownership: what impact on competition? In: Rosén J (Ed.), Individualism and collectiveness in intellectual property law (pp. 3-44). Cheltenham & Northampton: Edward Elgar
Hobhouse LT (1913). The historical evolution of property, in fact and in idea. In: Gore C (Ed.), Property its duties and rights:
Historically, philosophically and religiously regarded (pp. 3-31). London: MacMillan Publ. Co. Ltd
Holloway M (1996). The man who would conquered malaria. Scientific American 275(6):52-56, doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1296-52
Instituto Ecuatoriano de Propiedad Intelectual [IEPI], Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación [SENESCYT] (2016). Primer informe sobre biopiratería en el Ecuador. Quito. Retrieved from http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/images/cms/ DocumentosPDF/2016/16-06-23-informe-de-biopirateria.pdf
Locke J (1982). Second treatise of government. Wheeling: Harlan Davidson Inc
Marrero A (2016). Manuel Elkin Patarroyo insiste en que en dos años tendrá y donará la vacuna contra la malaria. El Espectador. Retrieved from http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/ salud/manuel-elkin-patarroyo-insiste-dos-anos-tendra-y-donara-articulo-643777
Marx K (1990). Capital, a critique of political economy (Vol. I). London: Penguin Classics
Marx K (2005). Economic and philosophical manuscripts. In: McLellan D (Ed.). Karl Marx selected writings. New York: Oxford University Press
Marx K (2005). Grundisse. In: McLellan D (Ed.), Karl Marx selected writings. New York: Oxford University Press
May C, Sell S (2006). Intellectual property rights: A critical history. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Mgbeoji I (2006). Global biopiracy: Patents, plants and indigenous knowledge. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
Newton I (1959). Letter from Sir Isaac Newton to Robert Hooke, February 5 1675. In: Turnbull H (Ed.), The correspondence of Isaac
Newton: 1661-1675 (Vol. 1, pp. 416-418). New York: Cambridge University Press
O’Hearn T (2000). The reason for the patent war. Business Horizons 43(4):33-42 doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0007-6813(00)00069-0
Patarroyo M, Romero P, Torres M, Clavijo P, Moreno A, Martínez A, Rodriguez R, Guzman F, Cabezas E (1987). Induction of protective immunity against experimental infection with malaria using synthetic peptides. Nature 328(6131):629-632. doi:10.1038/328629a0
Peritz R (2012). The law and economics of progress: IP rights and competition policy. In: Rosén J (Ed.). Individualism and collectiveness in intellectual property law (pp. 45-54). Cheltenham & Northampton: Edward Elgar
Rashdall H (1913). The philosophical theory of property. In: Gore C (Ed.), Property its duties and rights: Historically, philosophically and religiously regarded (pp. 34-64). London: MacMillan Publ. Co. Ltd
Sarma L (1999). Biopiracy: Twentieth century imperialism in the form of international agreements. Temple International and Comparative Law Journal 13:107-136
Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación [SENESCYT] (2012). Informe preliminar técnico científico del caso “ADN de los Waorani”. Quito, Ecuador
Shaver L (2012). Illuminating innovation: From patent racing to patent war. Washington and Lee Law Review 69:1891-1947, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1658643
Spinello R, Bottis M (2009). A defense of intellectual property right. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publ. Ltd
United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] (1993). Convention on biological diversity [CBD]. Rio de Janeiro. Retrieved from https://www.cbd.int/convention/text/
Utkarsh G (2001). Patenting life? Biodiversity and intellectual property rights. Resonance (Febraury): 51-56. Retrieved from http://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/reso/006/02/0051-0056
Van Overwalle G (2012). Individualism, collectivism and openness in patent law: from exclusion to inclusion through licensing. In: Rosén J (Ed.). Individualism and collectiveness in intellectual property law (pp. 71-114). Cheltenham & Northampton: Edward Elgar
Wise J (2014). Patent wars: Affordable medicines versus intellectual property rights. British Medical Journal (348):g1533. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g1533
World Intellectual Property Organisation [WIPO] (1979). Berne convention for the protection of literary and artistic works. Retrieved from http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ text.jsp?file_id=283698
World Intellectual Property Organisation [WIPO] (1979). Paris convention for the protection of industrial property. Retrieved from http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/treaties/ text.jsp?file_id=287556
World Intellectual Property Organisation [WIPO] (2003). What is intellectual property? (450 (E)). Geneve: WIPO Publication
World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] (2015). WIPO IP facts and figures. Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_943_2015.pdf
World Intellectual Property Organization (2016). World intellectual property indicators 2016. Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_941_2016.pdf
World Trade Organisation [WTO] (1994). Annex 1c: Agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights. Retrieved from https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/27-trips.pdf
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright © Autors. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. for any article submitted from 6 June 2017 onwards. For manuscripts submitted before, the CC BY 3.0 License was used.
You are free to:
 |
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format |
 |
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. |
Under the following conditions:
 |
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licenser endorses you or your use. |
| No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the licence permits. |
