Professor of Law, Georgetown University, Author of From Goods to a Good Life: Intellectual Property and Global Justice
Intellectual property is often about control and ownership. Here, Hearsay Culture took on the counter-point: How does intellectual property help communities share knowledge, and develop their own cultural identity? Hearsay Culture and Madhavi Sunder took this issue on at a time when intellectual property rights were being hotly debated.
Beyond basic tenets of sharing, Sunder underlined the importance of applying intellectual property law fairly, so that creators from all backgrounds can benefit equally from its protection. Sunder’s book, and this interview, remain on the edge of where we might envision our society progressing.
“Culture isn’t just a set of given traditions, commodities that are handed down to us that we just have to take . . . but rather culture is something we create and invent ourselves.” – Madhavi Sunder
“Intellectual property is the oil of the 21st century. Look at the richest men a hundred years ago; they all made their money extracting natural resources or moving them around. All today’s richest men have made their money out of intellectual property.” – Mark Getty, co-founder of Getty Images