""With intellectual property widely acknowledged today as a key component of economic development... more ""With intellectual property widely acknowledged today as a key component of economic development, those accused of stealing knowledge and information are also charged with undermining industrial innovation, artistic creativity, and the availability of information itself. How valid are these claims? Has the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) Agreement ushered in a new, better era? We trace the history of social conflict and political machinations surrounding the making of property out of knowledge. Ranging from ancient commerce in Greek poems to present-day controversies about on-line piracy and the availability of AIDS drugs in the poorest countries, we present intellectual property law as a continuing process in which particular conceptions of rights and duties are institutionalized; each settlement prompts new disputes, policy shifts, and new disputes again. We also examine the post-TRIPs era in the context of this process.
Our account of two thousand years of technological advances, legal innovation, and philosophical arguments about the character of knowledge production suggests that the future of intellectual property law will be as contested as its past.""
This panel was convened at 12:45 pm, Friday, April 11, by its moderator, Frederick M. Abbott of F... more This panel was convened at 12:45 pm, Friday, April 11, by its moderator, Frederick M. Abbott of Florida State University College of Law, who introduced the panelists: Gary N. Horlick of Georgetown University Law Center; James Love of Knowledge Ecology International; Jerome H. Reichman of Duke University School of Law; and Susan K. Sell of the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. ([dagger]) INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY FREDERICK M. ABBOTT ([double dagger]) There is a long historical arc surrounding the question of host country protection of alien property. Traditionally there has been a distinction between trade agreements on one side, and investor protection agreements on the other. The former were multilateral, regional, or bilateral, while the latter were more typically bilateral. More recently, starting in the 1980s, there has been a trend toward incorporating investor and investment protection in bilateral, regional, and plurilateral trade agreements...
Private Power, Public Law Susan K. Sell's book shows how power in international politics is ... more Private Power, Public Law Susan K. Sell's book shows how power in international politics is increasingly exercised by private interests rather than governments. In 1994 the WTO adopted the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which dictated to states ...
The objective of this book is to change the terms of the debate so that societal values and goals... more The objective of this book is to change the terms of the debate so that societal values and goals are at the center of discussions about each reform proposal and process. This book rethinks international investment law as a key system in global economic governance that should incorporate principles of transparency, participation, reciprocity, accountability, and subsidiarity. The book critically evaluates the current system of investment governance in light of those principles and goals. And finally, it proposes possible reforms – including multilateral reforms – that would realign the governance of international investment with 21st century goals including reduction of poverty and inequality, and protection of human dignity, the environment, and the planet.
Susan Sell’s academic career is a testament to the benefits that come from transcending disciplin... more Susan Sell’s academic career is a testament to the benefits that come from transcending disciplinary boundaries. From her graduate school work, on the effects of technology transfer on development, to her continued contributions on the international political economy of intellectual property rights, her desire to understand economic development has incorporated IPE, legal studies, regulatory theory, history and economics, to name only five areas. Despite early criticisms that this was “not really political science,” she has been vindicated in her belief that this work “was important and that it wasn’t going to get any less important.” Intellectual property rights are widely recognized as essential contributors (and barriers) to economic prosperity and national security (Halbert in Inf. Soc. 32: 256–268, 2016). In this interview, Sell discusses intellectual property’s relationship to technology and development, the challenges of conducting interdisciplinary research, and whether we’r...
ABSTRACT Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are increasingly recognized as the key economic reso... more ABSTRACT Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are increasingly recognized as the key economic resource of the future. This has led to considerable discussion of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agree-ment which was brokered during the ...
Twenty-first-century capitalism is fundamentally different from the neoliberalism of the late twe... more Twenty-first-century capitalism is fundamentally different from the neoliberalism of the late twentieth century. The prominence of finance, intellectual property (IP) protection, and digital platform businesses raises new regulatory challenges. Monopoly dominance has replaced market fundamentalism. This commentary proposes a research agenda for twenty-first-century capitalism in the interests of identifying, examining, and considering a range of potential regulatory and governance solutions to promote social resilience in an anxious world.
the strategic deployment of competing normative frameworks, that is, framing issues and grafting ... more the strategic deployment of competing normative frameworks, that is, framing issues and grafting private agendas on policy debates, we examine the contentious politics of the contemporary international intellectual property rights regime. We compare the business victory in the establishment of the 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) in the World Trade Organization with the subsequent NGO campaign against enforcing TRIPS to ensure access to essential HIV/AIDS medicines. Our analysis challenges constructivist scholarship that emphasizes the distinction between various types of transnational networks based on instrumental versus normative orientations. We question the portrayal of business firms as strictly instrumental actors preoccupied with material concerns, and NGOs as motivated solely by principled, or non-material beliefs. Yet we also offer a friendly amendment to constructivism by demonstrating its applicability to the analysis of business. Treating th...
... Among the participants of the eight-member task force were the CEO of IBM, John Opel, Vice Pr... more ... Among the participants of the eight-member task force were the CEO of IBM, John Opel, Vice President and Counsel of the Motion Picture Industry Association, Fritz Attaway; and President of the International Division of Merck & Company, Inc., (at that time America's largest ...
Proponents of an IP maximalist agenda increasingly have been rebuffed in recent years. Developing... more Proponents of an IP maximalist agenda increasingly have been rebuffed in recent years. Developing country governments, NGOs, and Access to Knowledge (A2K) advocates have thwarted their efforts to ratchet up standards of intellectual property protection in multilateral intergovernmental forums such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the World Health Organization. A2K advocates challenge the premises behind ever higher and broader intellectual property protection and seek, if not a rolling back of IP rights, at the very least a standstill. They argue that in the balance between rights and obligations, IP maximalists assert their rights without recognizing their obligations. IP maximalists always have seen TRIPS as a floor, not a ceiling. Ever since the WTO TRIPS negotiations that ended in 1994, they have been using every opportunity to increase intellectual property protection and enforcement beyond TRIPS. They have been relentless, focu...
""With intellectual property widely acknowledged today as a key component of economic development... more ""With intellectual property widely acknowledged today as a key component of economic development, those accused of stealing knowledge and information are also charged with undermining industrial innovation, artistic creativity, and the availability of information itself. How valid are these claims? Has the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) Agreement ushered in a new, better era? We trace the history of social conflict and political machinations surrounding the making of property out of knowledge. Ranging from ancient commerce in Greek poems to present-day controversies about on-line piracy and the availability of AIDS drugs in the poorest countries, we present intellectual property law as a continuing process in which particular conceptions of rights and duties are institutionalized; each settlement prompts new disputes, policy shifts, and new disputes again. We also examine the post-TRIPs era in the context of this process.
Our account of two thousand years of technological advances, legal innovation, and philosophical arguments about the character of knowledge production suggests that the future of intellectual property law will be as contested as its past.""
This panel was convened at 12:45 pm, Friday, April 11, by its moderator, Frederick M. Abbott of F... more This panel was convened at 12:45 pm, Friday, April 11, by its moderator, Frederick M. Abbott of Florida State University College of Law, who introduced the panelists: Gary N. Horlick of Georgetown University Law Center; James Love of Knowledge Ecology International; Jerome H. Reichman of Duke University School of Law; and Susan K. Sell of the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. ([dagger]) INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY FREDERICK M. ABBOTT ([double dagger]) There is a long historical arc surrounding the question of host country protection of alien property. Traditionally there has been a distinction between trade agreements on one side, and investor protection agreements on the other. The former were multilateral, regional, or bilateral, while the latter were more typically bilateral. More recently, starting in the 1980s, there has been a trend toward incorporating investor and investment protection in bilateral, regional, and plurilateral trade agreements...
Private Power, Public Law Susan K. Sell's book shows how power in international politics is ... more Private Power, Public Law Susan K. Sell's book shows how power in international politics is increasingly exercised by private interests rather than governments. In 1994 the WTO adopted the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which dictated to states ...
The objective of this book is to change the terms of the debate so that societal values and goals... more The objective of this book is to change the terms of the debate so that societal values and goals are at the center of discussions about each reform proposal and process. This book rethinks international investment law as a key system in global economic governance that should incorporate principles of transparency, participation, reciprocity, accountability, and subsidiarity. The book critically evaluates the current system of investment governance in light of those principles and goals. And finally, it proposes possible reforms – including multilateral reforms – that would realign the governance of international investment with 21st century goals including reduction of poverty and inequality, and protection of human dignity, the environment, and the planet.
Susan Sell’s academic career is a testament to the benefits that come from transcending disciplin... more Susan Sell’s academic career is a testament to the benefits that come from transcending disciplinary boundaries. From her graduate school work, on the effects of technology transfer on development, to her continued contributions on the international political economy of intellectual property rights, her desire to understand economic development has incorporated IPE, legal studies, regulatory theory, history and economics, to name only five areas. Despite early criticisms that this was “not really political science,” she has been vindicated in her belief that this work “was important and that it wasn’t going to get any less important.” Intellectual property rights are widely recognized as essential contributors (and barriers) to economic prosperity and national security (Halbert in Inf. Soc. 32: 256–268, 2016). In this interview, Sell discusses intellectual property’s relationship to technology and development, the challenges of conducting interdisciplinary research, and whether we’r...
ABSTRACT Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are increasingly recognized as the key economic reso... more ABSTRACT Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are increasingly recognized as the key economic resource of the future. This has led to considerable discussion of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agree-ment which was brokered during the ...
Twenty-first-century capitalism is fundamentally different from the neoliberalism of the late twe... more Twenty-first-century capitalism is fundamentally different from the neoliberalism of the late twentieth century. The prominence of finance, intellectual property (IP) protection, and digital platform businesses raises new regulatory challenges. Monopoly dominance has replaced market fundamentalism. This commentary proposes a research agenda for twenty-first-century capitalism in the interests of identifying, examining, and considering a range of potential regulatory and governance solutions to promote social resilience in an anxious world.
the strategic deployment of competing normative frameworks, that is, framing issues and grafting ... more the strategic deployment of competing normative frameworks, that is, framing issues and grafting private agendas on policy debates, we examine the contentious politics of the contemporary international intellectual property rights regime. We compare the business victory in the establishment of the 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) in the World Trade Organization with the subsequent NGO campaign against enforcing TRIPS to ensure access to essential HIV/AIDS medicines. Our analysis challenges constructivist scholarship that emphasizes the distinction between various types of transnational networks based on instrumental versus normative orientations. We question the portrayal of business firms as strictly instrumental actors preoccupied with material concerns, and NGOs as motivated solely by principled, or non-material beliefs. Yet we also offer a friendly amendment to constructivism by demonstrating its applicability to the analysis of business. Treating th...
... Among the participants of the eight-member task force were the CEO of IBM, John Opel, Vice Pr... more ... Among the participants of the eight-member task force were the CEO of IBM, John Opel, Vice President and Counsel of the Motion Picture Industry Association, Fritz Attaway; and President of the International Division of Merck & Company, Inc., (at that time America's largest ...
Proponents of an IP maximalist agenda increasingly have been rebuffed in recent years. Developing... more Proponents of an IP maximalist agenda increasingly have been rebuffed in recent years. Developing country governments, NGOs, and Access to Knowledge (A2K) advocates have thwarted their efforts to ratchet up standards of intellectual property protection in multilateral intergovernmental forums such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the World Health Organization. A2K advocates challenge the premises behind ever higher and broader intellectual property protection and seek, if not a rolling back of IP rights, at the very least a standstill. They argue that in the balance between rights and obligations, IP maximalists assert their rights without recognizing their obligations. IP maximalists always have seen TRIPS as a floor, not a ceiling. Ever since the WTO TRIPS negotiations that ended in 1994, they have been using every opportunity to increase intellectual property protection and enforcement beyond TRIPS. They have been relentless, focu...
Minnesota journal of law, science & technology, 2004
Globalization of intellectual property rights poses new challenges in fields ranging from medicin... more Globalization of intellectual property rights poses new challenges in fields ranging from medicine to agriculture. The dramatic expansion of intellectual property rights threatens reduced access to life-saving medicines and essential crops. Even though promising advances in biotechnology may enhance the nutritional content of basic crops, access to those critical developments is endangered by current regulatory trends. The 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), is the most important international law governing intellectual property rights.1 TRIPS extends patent rights to a wide variety of agricultural biotechnology innovations, including pharmaceutical products, pesticides, and plant varieties.2 It establishes a twenty-year patent term for these innovations.3 TRIPS requires states to
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Books by Susan Sell
Our account of two thousand years of technological advances, legal innovation, and philosophical arguments about the character of knowledge production suggests that the future of intellectual property law will be as contested as its past.""
Papers by Susan Sell
Our account of two thousand years of technological advances, legal innovation, and philosophical arguments about the character of knowledge production suggests that the future of intellectual property law will be as contested as its past.""