Who Owns Academic Work? Battling for Control of Intellectual Property - Between the Lines

University Business, July-August, 2002 by Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti

By Corynne McSherry: Harvard University Press, 2001. 275 pp. $29.95

One of the hottest debates in academia is ownership of intellectual property. As universities increasingly ask for a share of patent fights, and companies seek to secure ownership of a professor's online course, many are asking who owns intellectual work and who--if anyone--should be allowed to sell it.

Corynne McSherry throws the spotlight on this issue, examining the clash between the cultural "gift" economy of traditional academia and the increasingly litigious commercial economy. Drawing on law, history, philosophy, and current events, this book is a thorough examination of the roots of a complex debate. From p. 75: "... Academicians are supposed to write for honor, and the academic system of exchange is supposed to be based on the reciprocal and personalized exchange of gifts rather than the impersonal selling of private property."