BMJ  2006;333:1279-1280 (23 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39048.428380.80

Editorials

Scrooge and intellectual property rights

A medical prize fund could improve the financing of drug innovations

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

At Christmas, we traditionally retell Dickens's story of Scrooge, who cared more for money than for his fellow human beings. What would we think of a Scrooge who could cure diseases that blighted thousands of people's lives but did not do so? Clearly, we would be horrified. But this has increasingly been happening in the name of economics, under the innocent sounding guise of "intellectual property rights."

Intellectual property differs from other property—restricting its use is inefficient as it costs nothing for another person to use it. Thomas Jefferson, America's third president, put it more poetically than modern economists (who refer to "zero marginal costs" and "non-rivalrous consumption") when he said that knowledge is like a candle, when one candle lights another it does not diminish from the light of the first. Using knowledge to help someone does not prevent that knowledge from helping others. Intellectual property rights, however, enable . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Columbia University, New York, NY 10025, USA

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Faunce, T. A., Nasu, H. (2008). Three Proposals for Rewarding Novel Health Technologies Benefiting People Living in Poverty. A Comparative Analysis of Prize Funds, Health Impact Funds and a Cost-Effectiveness/Competitive Tender Treaty. Public Health Ethics 1: 146-153 [Abstract] [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Inspired to find a cure for diseases, spurred not mainly by the lure of money but by the responsibility to alleviate suffering

Biji T. Kurien, et al.
bmj.com, 22 Dec 2006 [Full text]

THE WORLD - WILL THE TREATMENT DIFFER BETWEEN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING PART OF THE WORLD

Visahan Y Sabaratnam
bmj.com, 24 Dec 2006 [Full text]

Do we really need any new drugs?

William H Konarzewski
bmj.com, 28 Dec 2006 [Full text]

The Swedish Pirate Party agrees

Christian Engström
bmj.com, 31 Dec 2006 [Full text]

Scooge and IP rights - Scrooge may not cause all the evils of the world

Matthew Wicks
bmj.com, 3 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Intellectual Property: Feudalism Redefined

Lynn Howard Ehrle
bmj.com, 4 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Re: THE WORLD - WILL THE TREATMENT DIFFER BETWEEN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING PART OF THE WORLD

Maureen A Orlando
bmj.com, 12 Feb 2007 [Full text]

Call for a Health Impact Fund

Leila Chirayath
bmj.com, 7 Jan 2008 [Full text]

Intellectual Property Right, Drug prices control and rational use of drugs in West Bengal: India-an urgent need

Professor Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, et al.
bmj.com, 2 Feb 2008 [Full text]