Intellectual Property and the Governance of Scientific Knowledge: Reassessing Ownership, Access, and Innovation in the Digital Era

Abstract

The transformation of scientific knowledge into a predominantly digital, data-intensive, and globally networked resource has generated a fundamental tension within contemporary intellectual property governance. Intellectual property law traditionally seeks to stimulate innovation by granting exclusive rights over certain forms of intellectual creation, yet scientific knowledge derives much of its social and economic value from circulation, verification, cumulative development, and reuse. The digital era has intensified this tension because scientific publications, research data, software, algorithms, genomic information, databases, and technological methods can be reproduced and disseminated at negligible marginal cost while simultaneously acquiring substantial commercial value. This article critically examines the relationship between intellectual property and the governance of scientific knowledge, with particular attention to ownership, access, innovation, open science, data governance, patent rights, copyright, trade secrets, and international regulatory frameworks. It argues that the traditional proprietary model is increasingly inadequate as a comprehensive framework for governing scientific knowledge because it may generate enclosure effects, access barriers, fragmented rights, and asymmetries between knowledge producers and users.