Article ID: CBB212757503

Weighing Intellectual Property: Can We Balance the Social Costs and Benefits of Patenting? (2018)

unapi

The scale is the most famous emblem of the law, including intellectual property (IP). Because IP rights impose social costs on the public by limiting access to protected work, the law can be justified only to the extent that, on balance, it encourages enough creation and dissemination of new works to offset those costs. The scale is thus a potent rhetorical trope of fairness and objectivity, but also an instrument the law thinks with – one that is constantly invoked to justify or to question the extent of available IP protection. The balancing act that underlies the legitimacy of IP is, however, literally impossible to perform. Because we are unable to measure the benefits that IP has for inventors or the costs it has for the public, the scale has nothing to weigh. It conveys a clear sense that IP law can be balanced, but in fact propagates only a visible simulacrum of balance – one that is as empty as it is powerful.

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Authors & Contributors
Biagioli, Mario
Franck Cochoy
Con Diaz, Gerardo
Baudry, Jerome
Kat Jungnickel
O'Reagan, Douglas Michael
Concepts
Technology and law
Intellectual property
Patents
Technology and society
Inventors and invention
Technoscience; science and technology studies
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
19th century
20th century
18th century
Modern
Places
United States
Great Britain
Americas
France
Institutions
Johnson
Marconi Company
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