Intellectual Property Issues in Electronic Collaborations

Abstract

Scientific research is increasingly performed via on-line collaboration, including the potential for virtual research environments or collaboratories. Lessons learned from the analysis of law as applied to the Internet may illuminate the issues that will arise in such collaborations. Although the ideal of open science pushes scientists toward communal ownership of scientific results, increasingly the ownership and control of research results in such collaborations will be effected by a variety of intellectual property regimes. Patent, copyright, trade secrecy, and trademark law all potentially have a bearing on the results of collaborative research. Additionally, because such laws vary by jurisdiction, the legal result of transborder electronic collaboration may prove particularly complex. Regimes of licensing and of technological content protection may be applied to address some of this complexity, but offer their own complications.

Keywords: intellectual property, jurisdiction, patents, private goods, public goods, copyright, trade secrecy, trademark, Robert Merton, scientific norms, shrinkwrap licenses, open science, ARPAnet, choice of law, clickwrap licenses, contracts, DRM, CMS

JEL Classification: O31, O32, O33, O34, O38, H41, H54, H73, F22