Piracy, Patents and Intellectual Property

Intellectual ownership is one of the most intractable problems in contemporary social and economic life. This course explores the emergence and significance of intellectual ownership in the domains of art, architecture, literature, scientific innovation, media, and law. We are particularly interested in the different social, geographic and national contexts in which regimes of intellectual ownership surfaced, and how different national agencies, individuals, and corporate formations variously construct and enforce understandings of ownership and infringement. We will also canvass contemporary enforcement and implementation mechanisms, global north versus global south wealth disparities, and the fate of intellectual property in the digital world.