The Intellectual Commons Toward an Ecology of Intellectual Property

The rapid emergence of digital media has created both new economic opportunities and new risks for authors, publishers, and users in regards to intellectual property. There is a theoretical conflict raging between those who believe information should be free and those attempting to protect intellectual property through surveillance and control of access. The Intellectual Commons works to develop a theory of intellectual property that is based on a theory of natural rights that assumes the existence of a natural world of intellectual resources.

Henry C. Mitchell, Jr. is Adjunct Faculty at the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University at South Bend.