A lot has recently been written on the link between Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and human rights. One of the more intriguing questions is whether IPR are themselves human rights.
In order to answer this, it would be pertinent to look at the relevant international human rights instruments, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Article 27 (2) of the UDHR states that everyone has the right to protection of moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic work of which he is the author.
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Similarly, Article 15.1 (c) of the ICESCR recognizes the right of everyone to benefit from the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
These provisions have been used by many to argue that fundamental human rights covenants recognize IPR as being a human right.
This interpretation raises a couple of issues. Firstly, does it imply that all IPR are human rights? Secondly, what are the implications of construing IPR as human rights?