Intellectual Property Law and Human Rights

This course takes place: April 17, April 24 and May 1.

The course addresses the conceptual differences and interaction of intellectual property and human rights. It discusses the interrelation of the two disciplines in the field of the right to health, access to medicines and biotechnology, in the context of climate change mitigation and adaption and in the digital economy. The three lectures focus on international law, in particular the TRIPs Agreement of the WTO, human rights instruments, sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the emerging duty to act under the principle of Common Concern of Humankind.

Intellectual property and human rights protection often are seen in tension, if not contradiction. On the one hand is the allocation of exclusive property rights in knowledge and information. On the other hand is the right of all humankind to participate in, and benefit from, scientific and technological progress made. The tensions have been mainly discussed in relation to the right to health and more recently, as a problem of access to medicines and vaccines. Other areas of tension include the digital economy and the management of social media, as well as access to sustainable technology in the context of climate change. The relationship is a complex one, as intellectual property is an important foundation of knowledge and information, while human rights protect a wide range of normative claims based upon the protection of human dignity, entailing both civil and political, as well as economic and social rights.