Johannes Britz

本文論述我們現今生活在一個新世紀，大環境首次出現一個資訊與知識的流通幾乎是零成本的數位時代。然而，資訊的取得和使用卻漸形困難，這主要是歸因於整個資訊產品與服務商品化的國際趨勢，以及伴隨而來愈來愈嚴苛的智慧財產權制度。這個發展將人們隔絕於重要資訊之外也從而剝奪了一項基本人權—資訊取得權。在本文中並論及經濟因素的重要性之於智慧財產權已遠大於道德與社會的因素，這使得智慧財產權系統中既有的雙重本質失衡，而有利於所有權/獨家的論據；以及在這個趨勢下對於資訊原創者、原住民族以及發展中國家的影響。

It is argued that we are living in an new era where the digital environment for the first time allows the creation of an information commons. The information and knowledge can be distributed to the largest number of people at nearly zero cost. However, access to and use of information has become increasingly difficult. This is mainly due to the international trend to commodify information products and services and the accompanied strengthening of intellectual property rights. This leads to the exclusion of people from accessing essential information, thereby denying them a fundamental human right – the right of accessing to information. In this puper shows that the economic argument on justifying intellectual property has become more important than the moral and social factors. This has brought an imbalance in the dual nature of intellectual property systems, favouring the ownership/exclusion argument. It is demonstrated how this shift has impacted on the original creators of information, indigenous peoples and developing countries.