Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) And Knowledge Sharing Of The Future

Current period of human history (the economy in particular) is dominated by IPR's. IPR's are sold at a very good premium. Copyrights held by music, media and publishing industry fetch enormous amount of money. The court cases all around the world for enforcing the IPR's are large in number. Even many basic science researchers give special attention to patentability of their findings and patent first before going for publishing the scientific papers. Scientists are taught not to share information between each other during their researches as it may affect the ownership of the invention. Most of them keep a diary of their work, as if it is a day-to-day accounting which may be audited by a tax person (in their case it could be a court).

At the same time, there are also public activism especially in the phamaceutical sector for breaking IPR rights for public good - to provide cheap drugs for patients suffering from HIV/AIDS or such serious epidemics. Counter queries are about the costs of doing discovery and how to recover the cost for the drug companies investing on R&D.

In the economy (domestic and global) being increasingly governed by technology and knowledge, more than 90% of the patents in all commercial sectors are held by companies or government of developed countries. With IPR's protected globally and through the WTO regime, most other companies and laboratories in the world are blocked in those sectors. No longer 'reverse engineering' which helped companies and countries during the 1960's and 1970's is possible. In the agriculture area where genetically modified seeds are patented, these issues are much more difficult.

Even in the field of art and culture, there are many questions against copyrights. Professor Joost Smicrs, the author of "Arts Under Pressure : Promoting Cultural Diversity in the Age of Globalisation", a professor of political science in Netherlands argues that our democratic right to freedom of cultural exchange is slowly being taken away from us. He questions the very process of personal ownership of a melody, an image, a word. He has given some alternates even while recognising the fact that artist has to earn and the financier has to get return on investment. He himself points out that the organised monopoly industries will oppose these charges as by owning IPR's they are able to shape the art world and earn huge money.

As of now, there are no easy solutions. IPR's came about to protect the inventor in return for his disclosure about the invention for the public so that the knowledge is available in the public domain - which could be used later after IPR expires.

More importantly, it makes other think of new paths. That is the benefit to the society, as knowledge about new inventions are known through the benefit of invention is reaped by somebody for a limited period. If that provision is not there, the inventor will not disclose and it will be his personal secret. Lots of wasteful effort will have to be done by others to 'break open the knowledge'. In many cases, the knowledge may die with a person. In India in earlier centuries, the artisans kept personal and family secrets and many knowledge bases got lost over time.

Therefore, IPR's seem to serve public interest by keeping the world knowledge known to all so that further inventions can take place. In another way, it is also like keeping the rights over land, house, ornaments, etc. Unlike those physical assets, IPR's are for a fixed period only.

But a few serious questions are as under :

• Does copyright constrain cultural freedom and lead to monopolies as referred to above?
• What is the solution for getting inexpensive medicines especially when the affected persons are very poor.
• Will IPR's strengthen the existing technology leaders and lead to a technological oligarchy.

As I see it next two three decades will be dominated by IPR regimes. But I expect that 2050 world may come up with new models, many of it spearheaded in the developed nations themselves by intellectuals and other activitists.

Let us keep a close watch. As of now, Indians have to master the IPR game and create wealth.