Drugs, Books and Seeds: The Politics of Access to Intellectual Property

The Project aims to compare three transnational activist campaigns to increase access to drugs (patents and data protection), books (copyright) and seeds (plant variety protection and patents). It expects to generate new knowledge in intellectual property regulation and global governance through an interdisciplinary approach combining concepts from political science, law, and sociology. Expected outcomes include the identification of strategies and policies to enhance policymakers' abilities to strike an equitable balance between between intellectual property and the rights of access of the global community. This should provide significant benefits to disadvantaged parties in health, education and nutrition through improved life outcomes.