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Full-Text Articles in Science and Technology Law
Open Source Approaches In Biotechnology: Utopia Revisited, Yann Joly
Open Source Approaches In Biotechnology: Utopia Revisited, Yann Joly
Maine Law Review
Tracing its origin to Greek antiquity, intellectual property has become an institution in modern legal systems worldwide. This growing importance of intellectual property was confirmed with the 1994 adoption of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement by the World Trade Organization (WTO), which harmonized the rules of intellectual property amongst the various members of the international community on the model of developed countries. However enshrined in the legal tradition, intellectual property law has also had its share of detractors and has recently come under severe criticism. The exercise of intellectual property rights in such diverse fields of creation …
A Virtue-Centered Approach To The Biotechnology Commons (Or, The Virtuous Penguin), David W. Opderbeck
A Virtue-Centered Approach To The Biotechnology Commons (Or, The Virtuous Penguin), David W. Opderbeck
Maine Law Review
The instrumentalist emphasis of the current biotechnology intellectual property rights (IPR) debate is not surprising. In the American tradition, intellectual property law has long been justified primarily by instrumentalist concerns. Thomas Jefferson famously acceded to the “embarrassment of patent and copyright monopolies because he believed a limited monopoly would encourage the production of new scholarship and inventions. The framers' willingness to allow this embarrassment for the greater good is enshrined in the Intellectual Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Countless judicial opinions refer to intellectual property law as a tool that provides necessary incentives to creators and innovators. Intellectual property …