Paradox of Intellectual Property in Capitalism

This is an innovative book that makes a comprehensive discussion and analysis of intellectual property in light of contemporary capitalism. It addresses the history and development of what is currently known as Intellectual Property Rights and related legal protections, but it goes well beyond that, bringing to the fore the very notion of what is knowledge, knowledge creation, and knowledge production and appropriation within a Marxist framework. Quoting, discussing and providing a critique of a multitude of authors from different fields of knowledge, this book makes an in-depth incursion into the very core of capitalism as it permeates all aspects of life, including knowledge and, consequently, private appropriation of knowledge. The questions discussed in this book are of wide public interest and provide a broad view, including how the digital age centres on an overarching logic: the logic of capitalism as revealed in intellectual property.

João Romeiro Hermeto holds a PhD in philosophy from the Witten/Herdecke University, Germany