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Schneider, Ingrid --- "Framing and explaining the politicization of intellectual property rights in the knowledge society" [2013] ELECD 1367; in Beldiman, Dana (ed), "Access to Information and Knowledge" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 208

Book Title: Access to Information and Knowledge

Editor(s): Beldiman, Dana

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783470471

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: Framing and explaining the politicization of intellectual property rights in the knowledge society

Author(s): Schneider, Ingrid

Number of pages: 25

Abstract/Description:

Not long ago, the meaning of the acronym ACTA was only known to insiders. This fact dramatically changed in February 2012, when tens of thousands of protesters against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) took to the streets of Europe and anti-ACTA protests broke out internationally. These protests, massive, vocal and broad, came as a surprise, not only to politicians, but also to practitioners and academics long familiar with the field of intellectual property (IP) law. What happened? The first part of this article will provide some observations, interpretations, and a frame theory-based analysis of the anti-ACTA protests in Europe. The second part will conceptualize some of the structural forces at work and the reasons for the fact that intellectual property has become increasingly problematized and politicized in the knowledge society. The article is based on the thesis that ACTA is but the tip of an iceberg, hiding underneath it complex and widespread shifts in structure, caused by globalization, as well as by the pace of social, economic, technological, and cultural change. The article’s objective is to map and explain some of the discontents surrounding intellectual property. The first section will discuss ACTA as pars pro toto for the contentions in intellectual property. The second section will explore the sources of structural changes underlying these contentions. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral treaty aiming to establish an international legal framework for enforcement of intellectual property rights by targeting counterfeit goods and copyright infringement.