公有領域的新生動力

A New Dynamism in the Public Domain

許多人認為，知識產權已經走得太遠，而政策制定者必須對此作出相應的回應。在本文中，筆者認為，該批判固然不無道理，但在某些情況下，私人當事方正在親力親為。不少企業和個人正加快向公有領域注入信息，其目的很明顯，就是抵制或削弱競爭對手潛在的財產權利。一些生物技術企業在公有領域投資的基因序列數據庫價值高達數百萬美元，並通過這種途徑來防止其他企業搶佔短基因序列專利，而一些主要的軟體企業則對開源作業系統投入鉅資以對付勁敵。在這兩種情況下，為搶先排除財產權而進行的投資(property-preempting investments, PPIs)的這些舉動都是為了抵制對手的產權對自己造成的不利影響。除此以外，個人和非營利組織也同樣以自己的行動參與其中，諸如宣導知識共用計劃等。在公有領域的這些主要的私人投資的出現，一方面揭示出知識產權制度具有一種自我修正功能，儘管這種功能至今仍為人們所忽視；另一方面，也表現出知識產權保護過度的探討並不僅僅存在於公共立法領域，還存在於別的領域。

Many believe intellectual property has overreached, and that policymakers must respond. In this essay, I argue that the critique may have merit, but private parties are in some cases taking matters into their own hands. Firms and individuals are increasingly injecting information into the public domain with the explicit goal of preempting or undermining the potential property rights of economic adversaries. Biotechnology firms invest millions of dollars in public domain gene sequence databases, to prevent hold-ups by firms with patents on short gene sequence. Major software firms fight entrenched rivals by investing millions of dollars, contributing to open source operating systems. In both cases, property-preempting investments (PPIs) are made to offset the effects of competitors’ property right. Individuals and nonprofits are joining in too, with initiatives such as the Creative Commons project. All of these major private investments in the public domain reveal a self-correcting feature of the intellectual property system that has been overlooked until now, and signal that public lawmaking is not the only arena in which the excesses of intellectual property may be addressed.