IPR - Knowledge is a worthless asset without it. True or false?

Arguments for and against this position

Carolina Gonzalez Rodríguez BASES Foundation / University of Buenos Aires, School of Law

Michael Polanyi (1958):

Creative acts (especially acts of discovery) are shot-through or charged with strong personal feelings and commitments. Arguing against the then dominant position that science was somehow value-free, Michael Polanyi sought to bring into creative tension a concern with reasoned and critical interrogation with other, more ‘tacit’, forms of knowing.

Personal KnowledgeCarolina Gonzalez Rodríguez - BASES FOUNDATION / University of Buenos Aires, School of Law

Bertrand Russell (1976) “The question how knowledge should be defined is perhaps the most important and difficult of the three with which we shall deal. This may seem surprising: at first sight it might be thought that knowledge might be defined as belief which is in agreement with the facts. The trouble is that no one knows what a belief is, no one knows what a fact is, and no one knows what sort of agreement between them would make a belief true”

Theory of KnowledgeCarolina Gonzalez Rodríguez - BASES FOUNDATION / University of Buenos Aires, School of Law

Carolina Gonzalez Rodríguez - BASES FOUNDATION / University of Buenos Aires, School of Law

World 1: the world of physical objects and events, including biological entities

World 2: the world of mental objects and events World 3: objective knowledge. Scientific Theory

Myths

Stories

Social Institutions

Three worlds.The Tanner Lecture on Human Values


“If we possess all the relevant information, if we can start out from a given system of preferences, and if we command complete knowledge of available means, the problem which remains is purely one of logic.”

The use of knowledge in society


Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

the right to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests resulting from authorship of scientific, literary or artistic productions.


“First, the progress and well-being of humanity rest on its capacity to create and invent new works in the areas of technology and culture.

Second, the legal protection of new creations encourages the commitment of additional resources for further innovation.

Third, the promotion and protection of intellectual property spurs economic growth, creates new jobs and industries, and enhances the quality and enjoyment of life”.

World Intellectual Property OrganizationCarolina Gonzalez Rodríguez - BASES FOUNDATION / University of Buenos Aires, School of Law

“The cry for copyright is the cry of men who are not satisfied with being paid for their work once, but insist upon being paid twice, thrice, and a dozen times over.”

George Bernard Shaw


Public Goods

NON COMPETITIVE COMPSUPTION

NO EXCLUSION

PROBLEM TO SOLVE: EXTINCTION (Tragedy of theCommons)

POLITICS

MARKET

REGULATION

ALLOCATION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS


Given that kowledge is a public good, wichdoesn’t extinct, there is no need to allocateproperty rights to give incentives forpreservation and enlargement.

On the contrary, patents and IP rights wouldimposse artificial monopolies which would makean abundant good scarce, and therefore increasethe price of the goods and services produced asa consequence of the IP discoveries.


FROM THE PRODUCER’S PERSPECTIVE INCENTIVES : if the outcome of the intellectual

effort and innovation is not allocated to theinventor, he/she wouldn’t have the drive to investresources in the production of a public good suchas knowledge is

INTERNALIZATION of costs and benefits of producing IP

How to assess efficiency of the ip system?▪ «Patent paradox»


IN FAVOR OF IPR: Producer’s perspective Incentives for innovation Allocation of private property rights

AGAINST IPR Consumer’s perspective Artificial Monopoly Prices increased It is not proved that free system would discourage

innovation.


Polanyi, Michael. Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. Routledge & KeganPaul. London 1958.

Pollock, John and Cruz, Joseph. Contemporary Theories of Knowledge. Rowan and Littlefield Publishers. Oxford 1999.

Popper, Karl: Three Worlds. The Tanner lecture on Human Values. Delivered at the University of Michigan. April 7, 1978

Hayek, Friedrich. The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review. XXXV, No. 4. American Economic Association, 1945


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IPR - Knowledge is a worthless asset without it. True or false?

Economy & Finance

Transcript of IPR - Knowledge is a worthless asset without it. True or false?