Scientific Discoveries and Technological Innovation are Nobody's Intellectual Property

Abstract

Scientific discoveries and technological advances emerge from global communities of inves- tigators sharing their ideas and material resources with one another. Individual investigators or groups make important contributions, to be sure, but these advances are incremental; only when ideas and resources are shared with the community at large, so they can modify and combine with other ideas and resources, does the community become fully creative and innovative. While the "intellectual property" that an individual can legitimately lay claim to is thus very modest, it is the source of a supremely valuable cultural reward: the esteem of the creative communities to which the investigator belongs. When governments attempt to foster innovation by the promise of government-enforced patent monopolies, rather than by direct public spending, scientific communities are disrupted, creativity is impaired, the price of goods and services is greatly elevated, wealth inequality increases, and perverse incentives can distort the marketplace. These shortcomings are especially troubling in the case of pharmaceuticals and other essential sectors, where the products are a public good — not just commodities like TVs or new running shoes — and where effective innovation is a matter of basic economic and social justice — not just commercial prosperity.