The Politicization of Intellectual Property: IP Conflicts and Social Change
WIPO Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2011
10 Pages Posted: 29 Nov 2011 Last revised: 20 Jan 2012
Date Written: November 28, 2011
Abstract
In the last 15 years a remarkable string of contentious mobilizations has emerged, challenging the normative and institutional frameworks that regulate how knowledge is produced, appropriated, and used. In this article I argue that these conflicts are more than contingent phenomena of fluctuating protest patterns. They are rooted in the growing global economic and political importance of immaterial goods, and – on a more fundamental level – they address a set of new cleavages which originate in the social transformations of the knowledge society.
Keywords: knowledge society, intellectual property, social movements, creative commons, pirate parties, access to medicines, software patents
JEL Classification: H41, O34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation