The 17th Annual Workshop of the
International Society for the History and Theory of Intellectual Property (ISHTIP)
will be hosted by the
Faculty of Law, University of São Paulo (USP)
(Largo Sāo Francisco 95 – Se Sāo Paulo, Brazil)
Intellectual Property and Democracy
25-26 June 2026
In recent years, fundamental elements that had been taken for granted in western liberal democracies appear to be in retreat: the rule of law, separation of powers, and the protection of individual rights, such as freedom of opinion and expression or the right to non-discrimination. Concomitantly, there has been a rise in scholarship in the last decade that have critiqued the proliferating discourse of human rights as being a ruse, which disguises a political reality beset by problems that are social and material in their origins and which cannot be addressed adequately by a rights-centered discourse with an aim to uphold liberal democracy. Beyond these two developments, the very value of democracy is being questioned whilst authoritarian, nationalistic and racist tendencies are on the rise globally.
Historically, western modern intellectual property forms that are now codified in many legal jurisdictions, be they democratic or not, have arisen together with liberal democratic polities, both at domestic and international levels. The idea of a “patent republic” in France and the United States is a conceptualisation of these parallel developments. Intellectual property, both legal and non-legal forms, incorporate assumptions and norms about the public and private, about the role of government, and desired political outcomes. Whilst intellectual property may be construed as constituting a natural property right tied to a polity, historical studies have shown how intellectual property was used as techniques of political control, some of which were undemocratic in nature, such as limitations on freedom of expression. Intellectual property rights have also not applied equally across all jurisdictions at various times or in an equitable manner. Studies in critical intellectual property, as well as in anthropology and sociology, analysed how they have acted differentially across different persons and jurisdictions: what may seem like a badge of citizenship in one country will be the unwanted loss of political self-determination and identity in another.
This workshop aims to take stock of the relationship between intellectual property and democracy – both in its norms, rhetoric, and effect – by bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship which explores this relationship historically and theoretically.
If you want to attend the workshop, please register by using the following Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/17th-ishtip-annual-workshop-hosted-by-faculty-of-law-of-univ-of-sao-paulo-tickets-1990004062721
ISHTIP Executive Committee (ishtip.org): Gabriel Galvez-Behar, Université de Lille; Hyo Yoon Kang, University of Warwick; Vitor Henrique Pinto Ido, University of Sāo Paulo; Kathy Bowrey, University of New South Wales, Sydney; Jose Bellido, University of Kent; David Pretel, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS), Madrid.