lecture 2011.03a: fundamentals of intellectual property (digital sustainability)
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Digital Sustainabilityin the Knowledge Society
Fundamentals of »Intellectual Property (IP)«
Dr. Marcus M. DappBoard OKF Germany / IT Strategist, City Government Munich
10.10.2011
Problem with knowledge as a public good
• Nonexcludable• difficult to exclude people from access
• Nonrival• Used not consumed
• Problem• No incentive
to create?!
By avatar-1 (Flickr CC-BY-SA)
Solution: »Intellectual Property (IP, IPR)«
• = timelimited exclusive rights, granted to author/inventor
• Exclusive right• To exploit invention/work• To control production/distribution
• Timelimited• Rights expire after some time
• Exclusive right = monopoly status
What's a monopoly?
By Mike_fleming(Flickr, CC-BY)
Monopoly?
• Only one provider of a product/service• Greek: monos = one, polein = to sell
• Characteristics• No economic competition• No product substitution• High barriers for new market players
• Examples?
»Intellectual Property« wants to solve 2 problems
• Incentive problem• Now/instant• Give exclusive rights on creation
• Monopoly problem• Later• Let excl. rights expire after ‘some time’
• Both create new problems...• How many rights?• How long?
»Framing« the IP debate: Words promote intentions
• »Property« or »Rights«?• »Property« advocates promote that
protection should provide rights akin to physical property.
• »Right« advocates promote that protection should provide rights in temporary, limited form.
• Who uses which terms? Why?• e.g., »piracy«, »unauthorized copy«, ...
WP(en): Intellectual rights (25.11.05)
»Intellectual Property« needs balance
• Balance of public and private interests• Balance of efficiency
• Dynamic (over time)• Static (in space)
• Analysis• Legal: utilitarism• Economic: incentive+allocative function
Balance private and public interests
• Creation• Private/Individual
benefit• Foster investment
in R&D• »Dynamic
efficiency«
• Diffusion• Public benefit/
social welfare• Optimal resource
allocation• »Static efficiency«
Dynamic Efficiency: Protection over time
Monopoly Rights
time
rationing of consumption,loss for public
free accessgain for public
optimal duration?
0 ∞
non-rivalpublic benefit
non-exclusiveprivate benefit
»future«
Public DomainPD
exclusive rights to individualto commercially exploit
»may prevent innovations«loss of royalties
Who invests, gets the rights.
exclusiveprotection
PDusable collectively, free of charge
Crossing the »fence«- get exclusive rights- expiration of rights
Static Efficiency: Protection in space
Boundaries of IP- Unclear for inventions- Clear for creations
Who pays, gets the rights.
Legal Analysis of »IP«
• Why risk monopolies?• Society wants/needs technical
progress/arts » utilitarism• Assumption: »nobody invents/creates
without incentives«
• Aim• Balance private benefit & public benefit• Deal between society and individual
Economic analysis of »IP«
• Incentive function• To counter public good nature• Balance dynamic and static efficiency
• Allocative function• Efficiency (transaction costs)• Marketability
• »Who values them most, gets them«
Example: US constitution, section 8, clause 8
• »Congress shall have Power ... to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;«
• Think about it:• Congress does not have to.• Are there alternative ways?
Possible alternatives to »IP«
• Aim• Let new knowledge for society be
created
• Situation• Knowledge is Nonrival & hard to
exclude
• Question• How to foster its creation without using
the concept of »IP«?Interaction
Alternative solutions to »IP«
• Subsidies or prizes (awards)• By government, how to finance them?
• »culture flat rate«• Paid by all, used by all. Fairness?
• Trade secrets• Hide discoveries, erect physical barriers• How useful is nondiffusion for society?
Literature on »IP« (freely available)
• Lévêque & Ménière, The Economics of Patents and Copyright
• www.cerna.ensmp.fr/PrimerForFree.htm
• Y. Benkler, Coase’s Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm
• www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html
• P. Menell, Intellectual Property: General Theories (Encyclopedia of Law & Economics)
• users.ugent.be/~gdegeest/tablebib.htm
• W. Fisher, Theories of Intellectual Property• cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/tfisher/iptheory.pdf