From Information to Property and Back Again

The paper traces the ascendance of intellectual property law to the summit of economic life in all countries from the 1960s onwards before a backlash started to emerge in recent years in courtrooms, parliaments and public forums particularly in the US and Europe, among NGOs, public interest groups and international organizations. It argues that the widespread feeling that the international intellectual property regime has only benefited the multinational corporations and not the broader public in the developing and developed countries may generate problems which no amount of military power will be able to mitigate. The paper therefore calls for global justice and a return to the balance between encouraging innovation and fostering public benefit in intellectual property law.