Intellectual Property Responsibility: A Manifesto

0001The special lecture on “Intellectual Property Responsibility A Manifesto” was organised by the Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition, CIIPC, and the IPR Chair, National Law University Delhi. The event was conducted in hybrid mode, with participants attending physically on the NLU Delhi campus and others joining virtually through video conferencing.

Inaugural Session

0002The lecture commenced with welcome remarks by Ms. Nishtha Sharma, Research and Programme Coordinator, CIIPC IPR Chair, National Law University Delhi. She introduced the speaker, Dr. Pratyush Nath Upreti, Senior Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, Queen's University, Belfast.

0003Before joining Queen's University, Belfast, Dr. Upreti held a position at the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition Law, Munich. He has acted as an expert and commissioned studies for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and is currently a member of the expert committee on the resource project of the World Health Organization, South East Asia.

0004Dr. Upreti is also the author of Intellectual Property Objectives in International Investment Agreements, which was voted for the ICAD 2002 IP Law Book of the Year, as stated in the event source.

Special Lecture

0005Dr. Pratyush Nath Upreti presented a talk titled “Intellectual Property Responsibility A Manifesto”. He sought to reimagine international intellectual property by introducing a framework based on fairness and responsibility.

0006Dr. Upreti began by explaining how the intellectual property system traditionally protects innovators' investments through exclusive rights. He discussed how changes in economics, geopolitics, and politics over the past 25 years have transformed the intellectual property landscape. The changing nature of international intellectual property was examined through its interaction, overlap, and tension with areas such as international trade, public health, and human rights.

0007Dr. Upreti identified four episodes that have contributed to changes in international intellectual property. These were the invention of the printing press, the relationship between intellectual property and trade, the rise of the internet, and the rise of artificial intelligence and automation.

Responsibility in Intellectual Property

0008A central focus of the lecture was the development of a responsibility based approach within the intellectual property system. Drawing on the work of Peter Drahos, Dr. Upreti discussed intellectual property rights as “duty bearing privileges”.

0009He also presented three key claims from his forthcoming work. The first concerned “IP access as responsibility” and questioned whether the existing intellectual property system can be understood as creating an incentive to share. Referring to the COVID 19 pandemic as a catalyst for changes in international intellectual property, he distinguished between regular innovation and social innovation.

0010The second claim focused on “sustainability in IP as a responsibility”. Dr. Upreti illustrated this through examples such as the Right to Repair Movement.

0011The third claim addressed the growing gap between developed, developing, and least developed countries and the need to address these disparities within the international intellectual property system.

Conclusion

0012The lecture focused on developing alternative approaches to international intellectual property by incorporating a responsibility based perspective. It also addressed the need to balance obligations and disparities among nations in light of the evolving nature of international intellectual property.

0013The lecture concluded with an interactive question and answer session and was followed by high tea.