Intellectual Property - Rights or Privileges?
Journal of World Intellectual Property, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 445-58, 2005
13 Pages Posted: 3 Nov 2009 Last revised: 7 Oct 2013
Date Written: September 2, 2005
Abstract
The article argues that it is more correct to understand exclusive rights over one's intellectual property more as privileges than as rights. The revokability, limited duration, and the possibility for transfer based on payments apply in particular to industrial property rights. These characteristics do no apply to copyrights and related rights in the same manner, as the rights of the authors regulate what can be termed 'expressions of the self,' must be understood to be less instrumental. In particular the French Patent legislation of 1791, which applied the term 'rights' in contrast to the despised term 'privileges' belonging to the 'Ancien Régime,' is a breakthrough in the application of the term 'right' rather than 'privilege.' Therefore, it is not likely that there will be a return to the use of the term 'privilege.' However, when the term 'right' is applied in the context of intellectual property, it is crucial that this concept is not mixed with the term 'human rights.'
Keywords: human rights, intellectual property, privilege, copyrights
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation