Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 4, 2022

The Boundaries of Intellectual Property: A Hint from the Controllability of Objects

(Abstract)

Yi Jiming and Li Chunhui

The setting of boundaries on rights and the emergence of new forms of rights require that we gain a further grasp of objects as factors in rights. As a basic concept in the theory of rights, objects should command objective factual neutrality, and should not store value judgments about the setting up of rights. The ability of objects to set rights depends on the desirability, controllability, and sufficiency of those objects. Where intellectual property rights are concerned, information fluidity and externality decide that their justification must take into account the whole of natural law theory: occupation or control is the source of natural rights and labor is the basis of ownership of rights. Self-controlled objects generate general intellectual property rights, whereas those controlled by force of law generate categorized legal rights. General rights, being more akin to natural rights, need to enjoy greater protection, but their control cannot be further strengthened through the force of law. The categorization of statutory rights is based on a utilitarian setting of rights. On the one hand, they must strictly abide by the boundaries set on rights by statutory law while protecting the objects and functions they contain; on the other, they have a lower level of protection than general rights.