Intellectual Property, Public Sector Research, and Genetically Engineered Corn: An Anti-commons Analysis

The U.S. has detailed legal guidance designed to govern the creation and use of intellectual property (IP), and proper implementation of these legal structures requires that all parties involved are knowledgeable about the existence and scope of those laws. However, for many public sector scientists in a broad range of investigative fields, IP is ignored either consciously or because the scientist has never thought about it. What happens to the efficiency of legal instruments like IP when large percentages of those who interact with the IP environment (using patented research inputs) are not aware that they are doing so? This study attempts to answer that question by investigating the degree to which U.S. public sector researchers (primarily university and some U.S. federal lab researchers) plan for IP issues when conducting laboratory research involving genetically engineered (GE) corn. Based on results of a survey administered as part of this study, it can be said that university and U.S. federal lab scientists who generally operate outside of the commercialization world typically ignore IP rules and are ignorant of whether they infringe or not. Interviews with GE crop industry representatives found that pertinent IP owners not only generally do not prosecute such infringements, but welcome them as they generate "free research" (made available via published papers) that their own scientists may then use. Importantly, the policy impact is that an efficient (defined as lower transaction costs) generation of knowledge can take place external to or in the shadow of the intent and letter of IP laws. The implication is that any policy changes related to IP and GE corn specifically - and ag biotech more generally - must find a way to preserve the efficiencies of the current system of permissible infringement while also maintaining the innovation incentives currently enjoyed by IP rights holders.

Author

• Williams, Jeffrey L.

Language

• en

Keyword

• ag biotech
• maize
• corn
• intellectual property

Date created

• 2014

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Public Policy & Administration

Degree

• Ph.D.

Advisor

• Brock, Gerald

Committee Member(s)

• Cordes, Joseph
• Heisey, Paul
• Merrill, Steven
• Vonortas, Nicholas

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/08612n76x