cludes media products (e.g.,
movies, books, music), brands, scientific and technological knowledge, slogans and
phrases, even life forms. Intellectual property is of interest to a course in communication
and politics because it represents, in purest form, the intersection of law,
communication, and economics. Intellectual property law, while it may seem rather “dry”
on the surface, is a factor in many of the most interesting debates of our time. It’s a key
feature in the peer-to-peer music file sharing controversy, in cloning and other bioethical
issues, in the overseas piracy of Hollywood movies, and in high-stakes international
negotiations over the direction of world trade policy. Michael Perelman, author of this chapter from his book, Steal This Idea: Intellectual
Property Rights and the Corporate Confiscation of Creativity, is an economics professor
at California State University. His economics are decidedly from the left of the political
spectrum, making him a critic of the neo-liberal economics mainstream. In this carefully
argued critique of intellectual property, and specifically what Perelman believes is the
corporate takeover of patents and copyright, he offers a historical overview of intellectual
property and its surprising importance as an economic commodity and legal issue.
b. intellectual property and market failure
Perelman argues that intellectual property law originated in “market failure”—that is,
instances or areas of 英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】the economy where the market cannot provide goods or services
on a viable basis. In the event of market failure, states often provide those goods and
services that markets cannot: for example, defense, health care, and employment
insurance. Intellectual property is an example of a massive market failure in Western
economies because it represents a considerable violation of conventional market
practices. This violation primarily takes the form of the monopoly over a given product—
whether a cancer drug or Mickey Mouse’s image—that holding a patent, trademark, and
copyright gives to a particular individual or corporate owner. Normally, neo-liberal
economic doctrine—the orthodoxy in economics today—is hostile to monopolies
because they represent an obstacle to the play of market forces.
Neo-liberal economics has made an exception in the case of intellectual property
because of the vital importance of these knowledge monopolies to corporate power. In
other words, the value of IP is too crucial to allow ideology to overrule it. Intellectual
th
century Venice among glassworkers who wanted to
property law first appeared in 15
protect their specialized knowledge from others. As intellectual property laws developed,
and the triad of patent (for inventions), copyright (for creative and intellectual works), and
trademark (for brands, slogans, goods) protection took mature form, the law changed its
character. Where it was originally intended
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