Rights to Mediated and Intellectual Property

This chapter begins by examining rights to mediated property, the appropriate constraints on such rights, and the compensatory measures merited by certain ethnocultural groups regarding the acquisition and development of mediated property. It then investigates rights to intellectual property and pays particular attention to the issue of whether intellectual property rights should be granted to indigenous communities to protect their ethnobotanical knowledge and plant varieties. Consequentialist arguments of social utility strengthen the case for rights to mediated property. In most societies individuals are not indifferent to economic opportunities and/or to their financial well-being. The chapter clarifies the nature and justification of ownership rights to natural property, and then examines the impact of ethnocultural diversity on such rights. Similarly, it reviews ownership rights to mediated and intellectual property before examining certain key issues raised by ethnocultural groups for the understanding of these rights in multicultural democracies.