Is There a Human Right to Essential Pharmaceuticals? The Global Common, the Intellectual Common, and the Possibility of Private Intellectual Property

Mathias Risse
Additional contact information
Mathias Risse: Harvard University

Working Paper Series from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government

Abstract: I argue that there is a human right to vital pharmaceuticals, not in the sense that anybody has a claim right to the provision of pharmaceuticals that are not yet available, but in the sense that access to pharmaceuticals must not be limited by means of overblown private intellectual property right. Contrary to what is customary, my argument in support of such a human right draws on foundational considerations about intellectual property. My analysis is to some extent driven by exploring parallels between a Global Common and an Intellectual Common, to both of which all of humanity would have symmetrical ownership rights.

Date: 2008-12
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/work ... ?PubId=6073&type=WPN

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp08-074

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Paper Series from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().