MICHAEL A. HELLER
Columbia University - Columbia Law School
REBECCA S. EISENBERG
University of Michigan Law School
Science, Vol. 280, May 1, 1998
Abstract:
The "tragedy of the commons" metaphor helps explain why people overuse shared resources. However, the recent proliferation of intellectual property rights in biomedical research suggests a different tragedy, an "anticommons" in which people underuse scarce resources because too many owners can block each other. Privatization of biomedical research must be more carefully deployed to sustain both upstream research and downstream product development. Otherwise, more intellectual property rights may lead paradoxically to fewer useful products for improving human health.
JEL Classifications: C7, D2, D6, K0
Accepted Paper Series
Abstract has been viewed 436 times
Contact Information for MICHAEL A. HELLER (Contact Author)
Email address for MICHAEL A. HELLER
Columbia University - Columbia Law School
435 West 116th Street
New York , NY 10027
United States
Contact Information for REBECCA S. EISENBERG
Email address for REBECCA S. EISENBERG
University of Michigan Law School
625 South State Street
Ann Arbor , MI 48109-1215
United States
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