Open AccessDie Tragedy of the anticommons.
Author(s) -
Boris Gröndahl
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
prokla
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2700-0311
pISSN - 0342-8176
DOI - 10.32387/prokla.v32i126.714
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , tragedy (event) , criticism , politics , globalization , law and economics , intellectual property , function (biology) , work (physics) , sociology , political science , neoclassical economics , environmental ethics , law , economics , social science , philosophy , engineering , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , chemistry , evolutionary biology , biology
The patent system is one part of the triad of intellectual property, besieged by technological progress, globalisation and political criticism. In addition to the well-known argument that patents have unwanted moral or ecological consequences because they function, an immanent argument gains ground in the economic debate that they actually do not work as intended. In complex technologies such as biology, computers and software, the argument goes, patents tend to create a „tragedy of the anticommons“, stifling capitalist development.