Reshaping Intellectual Property Scholarship from Within

Abstract

Written for the Symposium collecting papers from the Race + IP 23 Conference, this article explores intellectual property scholarship that has been either overlooked or marginalized. Because scholars of color are often outsiders looking in, this article identifies opportunities to reshape intellectual property scholarship from within. Even though the article's focus was chosen with readers of this Symposium in mind, its insights will be relevant to all scholars.

This article begins by calling scholars to develop a deeper appreciation of the intrinsic motivations of authors and inventors. It then discusses the oft-overlooked inequalities of creativity and innovation within national borders. The article concludes by exploring the linkage between what some commentators have now called "critical race intellectual property" and other scholarship on international intellectual property law, including postcolonial studies, third world approaches to international law (TWAIL), and comparative legal analyses.