Intellectual Commons and the Law

* Book: Intellectual Commons and the Law: A Normative Theory for Commons-Based Peer Production. Antonios Broumas. University of Westminster Press, 2020

URL =

Description

1. From the Preface:

"The current book asserts that the intellectual commons are of social interest, because they have the potential to

(i) increase access to information, knowledge and culture,

(ii) empower individual creators and productive communities,

(iii) enhance the quantity and quality of intellectual production and

(iv) democratise creativity and innovation.

Morality thus requires the protection of the intellectual commons from encroachment by private enclosures and the accommodation of commons-based practices in the form of a non-commercial sphere of creativity and innovation in all aspects of intellectual production, distribution and consumption.

Throughout its analysis, this book demonstrates that the intellectual commons are a social regime for the regulation of intellectual production, distribution and consumption, which bears moral significance. It is, therefore, argued that the intellectual commons ought to be regulated in ways that accommodate their potential. Its principal thesis is that our legal systems are in need of an independent body of law for the protection and promotion of the intellectual commons in parallel to intellectual property law. Overall, the book provides the fundamentals for a holistic normative theory for the commons of the mind."

(https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1g4rtsw.5)

2. From the introduction:

"Intellectual commons proliferate at the core of our knowledge-based economies, where capitalist modes of production are supposed to reach their climax of competitiveness and efficiency. This new mode of production, distribution and consumption of intellectual resources emerges in the ruptures and contradictions of capitalist intellectual production and distribution, in all cases where people form self-governed communities of collaborative innovation and produce resources free for all to access. The emergent intellectual commons have the potential to commonify intellectual production and distribution, unleash human creativity through collaboration, and democratise innovation, with wider positive effects for our societies. The law plays a crucial role in the regulation of the contemporary intellectual commons, either by suppressing or by unleashing their potential.

...

The purpose of this book is to lay down the foundations for the moral justification of the intellectual commons and to provide an integrated normative model for their protection and promotion.

In this context, the book’s main question is: why are the intellectual commons morally significant and how should they be regulated so that their social potential is accommodated?

The foregoing main question of the book is further articulated in detail in the following five sub-questions:

• Which are the elements, characteristics, tendencies and manifestations of the intellectual commons and their potentials for society?

• Which are the main theories regarding the social potential of the intellectual commons and how are the intellectual commons in these theories perceived to be related to the dominant power of capital?

• How have the cultural commons been shaped across history and, in turn, how have they shaped society?

• How is social value generated, circulated, pooled together and redistributed within and beyond the communities of the intellectual commons? What relationship is there between commons-based and monetary values?

• Which elements and characteristics of the intellectual commons have moral significance and which ought to be the fundamentals of an intellectual commons law that will adequately accommodate their potential?"

(https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1g4rtsw.6?seq=2)

Contents

"The book is structured into ten chapters. Each chapter examines the intellectual commons from a different discipline and perspective.

The second chapter of the book analyses the ontology of the intellectual commons.

The third chapter introduces the main trends in theory that have been formulated in relation to the analysis of the intellectual commons.

The fourth chapter deals with the interrelation between the cultural commons and the law from a historical perspective, concentrating mainly on Anglo-American and Continental European history.

Chapters 5–8 formulate together a coherent research project on the circulation and pooling of social value in the context of the intellectual commons. The ninth chapter relies on the ontological, epistemological, historical and social research conclusions of the previous chapters of the book in order to produce a critical normative theory of the intellectual commons.

Overall, the eight chapters of the main body of the book are integrally related to each other and together form a consistent analysis of the intellectual commons and their interrelation with morality. The general structure of the study follows a scheme of gradual escalation from the empirical to the normative, starting from the ontological and epistemological analyses of the intellectual commons, proceeding to their historical and sociological examination and concluding with their normative evaluation. The second (ontological) and third (epistemological) chapters thus open the way for the historical research in the fourth and the social research in the fifth to eighth chapters and, thus, offer a solid theoretical base for the normative justifications of the ninth chapter."

(https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1g4rtsw.6?seq=9)

ToC

1. Introduction 1

1.1. The Intellectual Commons at the Forefront 1
1.2. The Laws of the Intellect and the Commons of the Mind 2
1.3. World Views Inverted: Fundamental Notions of the Intellectual Commons 3
1.4. The Moral Aspects of Commons-Based Peer Production 5
1.5. Towards a Commons-Oriented Jurisprudence 8

2. The Ontology of the Intellectual Commons 11

2.1. Introduction 11
2.2. Definitions 11
2.3. Elements and Characteristics 14
2.4. Tendencies 18
2.5. Manifestations 22
2.6. Conclusion 25

3. Theories of the Intellectual Commons 27

3.1. Introduction 27
3.2. The Growth of Academic Interest on the Concept of the Commons 28
3.3. Rational Choice Theories of the Intellectual Commons: The Commons as Patch to Capital 29
3.4. Neoliberal Theories of the Intellectual Commons: The Commons as Fix to Capital 35
3.5. Social Democratic Theories of the Intellectual Commons: The Commons as Substitute to the Welfare State 44
3.6. Critical Theories of the Intellectual Commons: The Commons as Alternative to Capital 52
3.7. Conclusion 60

4. Cultural Commons and the Law from the Renaissance to Postmodernity: A Case Study 63

4.1. Introduction 63
4.2. Cultural Commons and the Law in the Renaissance 64
4.3. Cultural Commons and the Law in Modernity 69
4.4. Cultural Commons and the Law in Postmodernity 77
4.5. Conclusion 85

5. Researching the Social Value of the Intellectual Commons: Methodology and Design 89

5.1. Introduction 89
5.2. Research Theory 90
5.3 Research Method 91
5.4. Data Coding 100
5.5. Conclusion 101

6. Social Value of the Intellectual Commons: Dimensions of Commons-Based Value 103

6.1. Introduction 103
6.2. The Economic Dimension of Commons-Based Value 103
6.3. The Social Dimension of Commons-Based Value 105
6.4. The Cultural Dimension of Commons-Based Value 107
6.5. The Political Dimension of Commons-Based Value 107
6.6. General Dimensions of Commons-Based Value 110

7. The Social Value of the Intellectual Commons: Commons-Based and Monetary Value Dialectics 113

7.1. Introduction 113
7.2. Commons-Based and Monetary Value Dialectics 113
7.3. The Comparison between Offline and Online Communities 117
7.4. Conclusion 118

8. The Social Value of the Intellectual Commons: Conclusions on Commons-Based Value 119

8.1. Introduction 119
8.2. Social Value in the Intellectual Commons 119
8.3. Productive Communal Activity as the Source of Commons-Based Value 120
8.4. The Forms of Commons-Based Value 121
8.5. The Mode of Commons-Based Value Circulation 122
8.6. Crises of Value 125
8.7. Conclusion 127

9. Towards A Normative Theory of the Intellectual Commons 129

9.1. Introduction 129
9.2. Foundations of the Critical Normative Theory of the Intellectual Commons 129
9.3. Personhood 132
9.4. Work 135
9.5. Value 139
9.6. Community 143
9.7. Basic Elements of an Intellectual Commons Law 150
9.8. Conclusion 153

10. Conclusion 155

10.1. The Moral Dimension of the Intellectual Commons 155
10.2. The Justification of an Intellectual Commons Law 161
10.3. Concluding Remarks and Political Implications 165
10.4. The Way Forward