scholarly journals The Ourobouros of Intellectual Property: Ethics, Law, and Policy in Africa

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 253-262
Author(s):  
Sandra Braman
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Effective Leadership ◽  
Information Access ◽  
Global Leadership ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Ethical Practices ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Innovative Techniques

Because law, policy, and ethics are multiply intertwined, developments in any one of these areas can affect what happens in each of the others. Thus those interested in African information ethics will find it valuable to examine trends in law and policy – and those concerned about legal trends should acknowledge effective leadership when it comes from the direction of ethical practices. Though African societies are almost always pictured as receivers of social, informational, and technological innovations that come from other sources, today many Africans are providing global leadership by developing innovative techniques for approaching the problem of information access. This article describes the context within which this is taking place, including a brief introduction to innovations in a number of areas, before looking in particular at innovations involving intellectual property rights that blend law, policy, and ethics.

Give Us Back Our Tragedy: Nonrivalry in Intellectual Property Law and Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 633-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Bracha
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Information Goods ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Distinct Category ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Commons

Abstract Information goods form the most distinct category of nonrival resources in regard to which one person’s ability to use the resource is not lessened by another person’s use. Nonrival goods are not subject to the tragedy of the commons and as a result the most common modern justification for property rights is absent in regard to them. Therefore intellectual property rights, unlike many other property rights, may perform a beneficial function only with respect to the dynamic incentive to produce information goods. With respect to static use of existing information, intellectual property rights serve no beneficial function and always have a negative effect. This fundamental and ostensibly well-understood element of intellectual property theory has important implications for the policy analysis of intellectual property rights compared to other institutional alternatives (including a commons) and for the design of such rights. Because it poses a fundamental challenge to the idea of a uniform theory of property, the assumption of nonrivalry of information has been subjected to attacks by scholars who sought to introduce the tragedy of the commons to this realm and reintegrate intellectual property rights into standard property analysis. Other scholarship rejects the attacks on nonrivalry but often obscures the full implications of this feature of information goods. This article explains the centrality of nonrivalry in the policy analysis of information goods and the challenge it poses to a unified theory built on the concept of the tragedy of the commons. It explains the unfortunate tendency to obscure the full implications of nonrivalry, explores the various attempts to restore a tragedy of the commons framework to the analysis of information goods, and exposes the flaws of these arguments. The article concludes by explaining the implications of the nonrivalry of information goods for a properly understood general theory of property built around the salient positive and normative features of resources.

scholarly journals TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AS A PROTECTED FORM OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN NEPAL: A LAW AND POLICY ASSESSMENT

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-126
Author(s):  
Viajay Prasad Jayswal
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Town ◽  
Property Regime

A serious discourse is built around the world for proper and better protection of traditional knowledge associated with intellectual property rights. Traditional knowledge was considered as a leftover subject in intellectual property governance since the IP has been a talk of the town. Nepal is rich in terms of traditional knowledge associated with indigenous communities largely used in the medical sectors or what we generally name with “ home-grown medicines”. There is a lack of proper protection and also incentives for these communities and researches have shown that there are also possibilities of conflict over ownership over such knowledge. The traditional knowledge will not only benefit particular stakeholders rather in an extended way, it creates values for the nation and ultimately a global asset in the intellectual property regime across the world. The IP Policy, Law, and Regulations need further incorporation of elements as the subject of traditional knowledge specifically used for medicinal purposes. This paper is based on a theoretical analysis of law, policies, rules, cases, and practices for the protection of traditional knowledge for medicinal in Nepal. This paper has further analyzed the position of existing umbrella clauses as seen in intellectual property laws for the said purpose.

scholarly journals Intellectual Property Rights: The Other Side of the Coin

2021 ◽  
Vol VI (IV) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Rao Raza Hashim ◽  
Bushra Arfeen
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Development Costs ◽  
History Of ◽  
Global North ◽  
Survival Of The Fittest

The modern world operates on the survival of the fittest rule. Hence, there is cutthroat competition among the states, and every state is striving for greater economic development. Development is based on the minimal use of resources which in turn is dependent upon technological innovations. These innovations incur huge research and development costs and can easily be copied to serve as the basis for further developments by the rivals. Thus, the idea of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) was introduced. While there are many advantages that these rights have to offer, they also prove to be deleterious in some ways as they also play a role in restricting innovation by the global North, which further widens the gap between both worlds. This paper traces the history of the IPR and develops an argument that proposes that IPR has been a cause of inequalities and has restricted innovation.

scholarly journals A Quest to Prohibit Immoral Inventions? An Analysis of Law and Policy in Human Biotechnology

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-65
Author(s):  
Kun Shao
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Patent Systems ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This paper consists of an identification and analysis of the place of, and role of ethics play, in the various patent systems currently in force in Europe. As for the rapid evolution of biotechnology advances, it is significant to observe the response from legislators and the measures put in place to address the further issues. Contemporaneously, this work aims to act as a commentary on the relationship of biotechnology with intellectual property rights, and on the role played in this respect by law.

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