Intellectual property (IP) is a regulatory idea for social processes of creation, use, and diffusion of knowledge. Literary and artistic works, inventions, algorithms, and business methods translate into different types of IP – copyright, trade secrets, and patents, etc. Despite the differences in technical rules surrounding each type, IP is a consolidated regulatory idea. All types of IP share a common set of justifications, narratives, incentives, principles, and assumptions. In this consolidated form, IP diffused to most countries of the world through international trade regimes and to most industries through the extension of IP subject matter. Through broad geographical and sectorial diffusion, this regulatory idea became a dominant form of social organisation of knowledge-intensive processes. Examining IP as an organising power requires new analytical approaches. This paper is a thought experiment that applies the concept of social technology to intellectual property. The value of 'social technology' framework is that it provides a new perspective on IP’s organising role. This concept has been applied in diverse contexts, including education and healthcare, to analyse the systematic use of resources to achieve a practical goal. The attributes of social technology include the codification of the informal and the framing effect. By codifying the informal, IP transforms knowledge into transferable, reified forms and frames our perception of knowledge by determining what information merits protection and value. This analysis leads to the conclusion that IP’s role extends far beyond legal regulation – it fundamentally organises social relations around knowledge. The paper exposes some of its inherent risks that warrant critical examination: the assumptions of neutrality, rationality, efficiency, and the constrain of alternative social technologies.
Speaker:
Svitlana Lebedenko is an Assistant Professor in the School of Law at the University of Warwick. She is also a part-time Assistant Professor at the European University Institute, where she contributes to the Global Governance Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. Previously, she was a Hauser Global Fellow at New York University School of Law and a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute. She holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute, where she was awarded the Special Doctoral Fellowship (Hans Kelsen Grant). She specialises in innovation and industrial policy, law and technology, and intellectual property law.