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Intellectual Property—Rights or Privileges?
Author(s) -
Haugen Hans Morten
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
the journal of world intellectual property
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.334
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1747-1796
pISSN - 1422-2213
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1796.2005.tb00262.x
Subject(s) - norwegian , intellectual property , citation , political science , property rights , sociology , law , philosophy , linguistics
The article argues that it is more correct to understand exclusive rights over one's intellectual property more as privileges than as rights. The revokability, limited duration, and the possibility for transfer based on payments apply in particular to industrial property rights. These characteristics do no apply to copyrights and related rights in the same manner, as the rights of the authors regulate what can be termed 'expressions of the self,' must be understood to be less instrumental. In particular the French Patent legislation of 1791, which applied the term 'rights' in contrast to the despised term 'privileges' belonging to the 'Ancien Regime,' is a breakthrough in the application of the term 'right' rather than 'privilege.' Therefore, it is not likely that there will be a return to the use of the term 'privilege.' However, when the term 'right' is applied in the context of intellectual property, it is crucial that this concept is not mixed with the term 'human rights.'