Intellectual Property and Human Rights

The increasing intersection of IP [intellectual property] and human rights appears inevitable, and it will alter the shape and the trajectory of new legal rules in both camps. To understand the future of both IP and human rights law we must think systematically about how the rising density of the international system affects the process of rulemaking. At the same time we must be cautious about the ways these two areas of international law, both of which are increasingly central to world politics, interact and overlap. Given the pernicious effects of overly-robust IP protection on many individuals and societies around the world, this combination may produce many beneficial effects. But it is not likely to be entirely laudatory.

That’s Kal Raustiala in his recently posted article Density & Conflict in International Intellectual Property Law. You can read the abstract and download the article here. He is responding to Larry Helfer’s important article, Toward a Human Rights Framework for Intellectual Property forthcoming in the UC Davis Law Review. You can access Helfer’s abstract and article here.