CHALLENGES IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DOMAINS WILL SHAPE THE FUTURE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Market failures, troubled access to medicine, impediments to free flow of information, copyright overextension, digital right protection, overkill and patents stifling rather than stimulating innovation are just a few of the disparaging themes around intellectual property. The main drives behind changes in IPR systems are growing discontent with the right to exclude that is essential to most IPR systems, the diversity of IP policies between the West and the Developing countries as well as digitalisation of information. The future of IPR will be shaped by its users more so than by international IP legislative initiatives. This think piece explores the main drives behind a growing critical view on intellectual property and how the law can change so as to restore confidence in the workings of intellectual property systems.