Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz (Economics, 2001) and John Sulston (Physiology/Medicine, 2002) argue that the patent regime, along with other forms of intellectual monopoly powers, locks down access to knowledge rather than allowing its dissemination.

Both were speaking at the launch of Manchester University’s new Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation:

Patent monopolies are believed to drive innovation but they actually impede the pace of science and innovation, Stiglitz said. The current “patent thicket,” in which anyone who writes a successful software programme is sued for alleged patent infringement, highlights the current IP system’s failure to encourage innovation, he said.

Sulston made the privatisation of science his topic:

Reversing the trend toward privatisation of science is critical, Sulston said. The world should concentrate on the survival and thriving of humanity, and exploration of the universe, he said. The outcome, he added, depends to a great extent on “who owns science.”

via IP-Watch

We released this policy brief a few weeks ago in prepration for the Symposium on Open Standards and the new intellectual property rights paradigms that are coming out of the various ‘open’ movements (open science, open source software, open medicine, etc.).

Because the policy brief is a bit hidden away on the merit website, I thought it made sense to post a link to it from the A2K blog. Please note that to get a list of relevant UNU publications that we have mentioned on the blog, you can select the “publications” category link in the navigation menu.

The policy brief is here (http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/pb/unu_pb_2006_01.pdf)

The 1st European Conference on Publishing in Biomedicine and Medicine on Researchers & Open Access: the new scientific publishing environment is to be held in Lund, Sweden, 21-22nd April 2006.

http://www.ecspbiomed.net/default.aspx?Id=1

As the publishing environment encounters new challenges in the Open Access model, researchers are faced with gaining an understanding of the opportunities as well as threats offered by this novel paradigm.

The conference will gather the most authoritative opinions on these issues and offers you the opportunity to participate in lectures and educational workshops in various areas related to authors publishing.

The principal aim of the conference is to broaden researchers understanding and knowledge of the rapid changes in the scientific communication and publishing area and its possible implications on the research community.