Intellectual property for humanity: A manifesto

This chapter considers the challenge posed by Peter Drahos’ work on the ‘duties of privilege’, and provides a normative analysis of an intellectual property (IP) regime by articulating IP duties as a lens for defining the optimal scope of IP monopolies. It builds on a correlative duty-based approach as a parameter to better approximating dignitarian thoughts in IP. A paradigm shift to a balanced framework incorporating the duty approach would reconfigure the imbalance and redress the undesirable consequences of inequality. A duty-based approach is not advocating a dichotomy regime separating rights from duties or replacing rights with duties, but a binary one taking full advantage of the extant IP flexibilities by embedding a sense of belonging, connectedness, honour and respect in a community of IP rights. A duty-based approach will work towards a collaborative humanitarian discourse and serve as a nuanced underpinning to the interface of IP power and competition where impacts will benefit society. Internal and external forces are identified for regulating IP following a comprehensive study on the philosophies of ownership. It concludes by proposing the primary waves of IP duties: a duty to self-moderation; a duty to benefit sharing; a duty to open innovation, and a duty to dissemination.