Intellectual Property’s Faith-Based Empiricism

Goold, P. ORCID: 0000-0003-1097-8291 (2022). Intellectual Property’s Faith-Based Empiricism (City Law School Research Paper 2022/10). London, UK: City Law School, City, University of London.

Abstract

In recent decades, researchers have produced numerous studies failing to find a positive correlation between IP rights and improved measures of social utility. Based on these findings, a number of scholars argue that society ought to grant fewer and narrower IP rights in the future. One scholar, Professor Mark Lemley (‘Faith-Based Intellectual Property’ (2016) 62 UCLA L Rev 1328) claims that supporting the status quo with natural rights arguments is irrational and displays a quasi-religious ‘faith’ in IP law.

This essay considers the epistemological foundations of Lemley’s ‘faith-based’ critique of natural rights arguments in IP law. Assuming that natural rights arguments are based on faith, are empirical-utilitarian arguments any more rational? This essay claims that empirical-utilitarian arguments also rest on irrational faith. Lawyers who base policy decisions on empirical IP studies are, like the present author, ‘faith-based empiricists’ when it comes to IP and utility.

Publication Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Additional Information:	Copyright, 2022, the author.
Publisher Keywords:	Intellectual Property, Epistemology
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General)
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > CLS Working Paper Series