The battle over intellectual property rights is likely to be one of the most important of this century. It has enormous economic, social and political implications in a wide range of areas, from medicine to the arts and culture – anything where the public interest in the widespread dissemination of knowledge runs up against those whose income derives from monopolising it.
Now it appears that international efforts to slow the pace of worldwide climate disruption could also run up against powerful interests who advocate a fundamentalist conception of intellectual property
[B]ig business doesn't want to take any chances. Today they are launching a new coalition called the Innovation, Development and Employment Alliance (IDEA). (You've got to love the Orwellian touch of those marketing consultants). Members include General Electric, Microsoft and Sunrise Solar. They will reportedly also be concerned with intellectual property claims in the areas of healthcare and renewable energy....
Comments
On the one hand, IP interests are wealthy, skilled at lobbying, and well-represented in most national legislatures and WTO delegations. On the other, environmental interests can be their match, even if they are not yet their match. The growing but largely unsuccessful academic and consumer coalition to reverse the destructive evolution of IP law could gain decisive strength from the environmental movement.
But note that patent maximalism is largely separate from the kind of copyright maximalism that occasionally threatens OA. For example, the Chamber of Commerce, which is leading the US contingent to put patent interests ahead of the environmental, has long supported the NIH OA policy.
Update (6/11/09). Unfortunately it's beyond my scope to track this topic in detail. But on June 10, the House of Representatives adopted HR 2410, which --in Section 329-- unmistakably puts patents first and the environment second.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/24/2009 11:27:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
