IPRs lead to shoddy research, admits world's oldest scientific academy
Intellectual property rights (iprs) are impeding constructive scientific research, states the Royal Society -- the most distinguished scientific academy of the world. Alarmed by the rush to seek patents, the uk-based organisation has recently warned researchers and national governments that free exchange of ideas are getting trampled in the stampede.
The society's report, Keeping science open: the effects of intellectual property policy on the conduct of science, by a nine-member commission acknowledges that money generated by patents pays for scientific innovation, but iprs can make the choice between private profit and public good quite difficult.
Researchers of the academy have found that patents rarely delay publication of research papers, but they encourage a climate of secrecy (withholding of some information). A desire by researchers to obtain iprs also affects the direction of publicly funded research, encouraging short-term applied studies that have merits, but are usually better done by the industry. Patents also limit competition. They can make it impractical for others to pursue scientific research within the areas claimed. The demerits of universities actively obtaining iprs rather than disseminating knowledge are not well documented, asserts the society.
The report discerns another major threat: owners of on-line information systems have reacted to their growth and extended copyright protection. This has given them the upper hand and they have started charging heavily to allow access to data that costs far less to compile than to originate. The 'imbalance' is often not challenged because of the complexity of copyright laws and the cost of invoking.
Another complication is divergent national attitudes and ipr policies. In the us, patents tend to be viewed as a right, but in Europe they are considered as a privilege. The World Trade Organization's intellectual property rules have also shown pitfalls in imposing a single standard on economies at widely varying stages of development.
According to the report, one solution can be a substantial increase in public funding of research. But in many countries, that looks doubtful. Indeed, the pressure on uk universities to generate commercial revenues has perversely led them to join the ipr regime, the researchers found.
A more promising approach is to focus on strengthening checks against abuses. The society even makes some proposals in this regard: more rigorous vetting of patent applications and cheaper access to dispute resolution.
Even then, as the report concedes, many grey areas remain, such as the non-existent borderline between discoveries and inventions. This makes it more important for governments and the courts to view demands for tighter ipr protection with a quizzical eye and to ask hard questions about whose interests it would really serve. Special attention should be given to the welfare of the developing countries.
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