2 - Theorizing Intellectual Property

Summary

This chapter develops the theoretical framework for the book.Using Foucault, the chapter introduces three models of power: juridical (sovereignty and rights-based), public biopower (promoting the productivity and health of the population in a general way), and neoliberal biopower (same objective as biopower, but working on individuals and treating everything as part of the economy).With neoliberal biopower, the emphasis is on subjectification and the development of homo economicus as a type.I then trace intellectual property (IP) from its emergence at the intersection of classical liberalism and juridical power to the current neoliberal form.My focus is on the contrast between the early, public biopower version of IP with the current, neoliberal one.The earlier version relies on the notion of benefits to an amorphous public and worries about the effects of monopolies; the newer version drops the aversion to monopoly and attempts to use property rights to capture and internalize public benefits, while putting pressure on individuals in the public to view their interaction with culture economically.I then analyze the current, Demsetzian theorization of IP as neoliberal.