Page 134 - Communication Cultural and Media Studies The Key Concepts

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

public domain and private ownership – and the ability to be
recompensed for a creation – is one that is constantly being negotiated
in lawand regulation.
The difficulties and contradictions of intellectual property are
examined by James Boyle in his discussion of the lawcase Moore v The
Regents of the University of California 1990. John Moore was a patient at
the University of California Medical Centre in 1976 where he was
being treated for hairy-cell leukaemia. During his treatment, Moore’s
doctors discovered a potential commercial value within his genetic
makeup. Tests were conducted on Moore, taking samples of every
conceivable bodily fluid, without Moore being informed of the
doctor’s commercial interest. Moore’s spleen was also removed and a
portion of it sent to the research unit. In 1981, the doctors patented
Moore’s cell-line, claiming intellectual property. Apart from the ethical
considerations of Moore not being fully informed of the reasons for
the extensive medical tests, the key issues in the case centred on
whether Moore actually owned his own genetic information and the
cells that contained that information. The court found that Moore did
not own either. ‘Thus’, writes Boyle, ‘though Johnny Carson has an
enforceable interest in the phrase ‘‘Here’s Johnny’’ (a phrase uttered by
someone else), Moore does not have one in his own DNA’ (Boyle,
1996: 23).
Boyle details the court’s reasons for these findings. Most important
among these was the court finding that Moore could not copyright his
genetic material as this would hinder research. In this case, it is the
public realm, the importance of the free exchange of information, that
is being upheld. However, what about the commercial intentions of
intellectual property in this instance? According to Boyle, the market
for products related to this research was estimated at $US3 billion in
1990. Intellectual property was claimed by the doctors in order to gain
accreditation for the discovery, but also to reap the financial returns for
the information. As this case demonstrates, intellectual property allows
ideas and information to enter the marketplace (see biotechnology).
A related issue is the extent to which anxiety over the capacity for
piracy inherent within digital media has led to the development of
encryption technologies and a rise in contractual agreements in order
to ensure that intellectual property is protected. Where it was once
assumed that the digital technology would allow for greater freedom in
the exchange of information and services, there is the very real
possibility that our rights in digital arenas will in fact be more tightly
constrained than our rights in the analogue world. For instance,
although paperback books can be borrowed or swapped without

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