Intellectual Property in a Postindustrial World

Abstract

An acceleration of the rate of innovation and associated transformation of industrial to postindustrial societies raises fundamental questions about the viability of the existing intellectual property regime. Among these key questions are who should make future intellectual property rules, what protection should be given to property developed with government funding, how much regulation should be applied to potential monopolies in life-saving technologies, whether all products should receive the same types of protection, and whether there is too much emphasis on pecuniary rewards as motivation for innovation. In an economically divided global village, important questions must also be addressed about the applicability of the same set of rules in both industrial and postindustrial settings.