ABSTRACT
Intellectual monopolies not only profit from depriving others of accessing knowledge but also benefit from initiatives initially conceived to counterbalance knowledge privatization. This chapter elaborates on how intellectual monopolies accumulate capital by profiting from knowledge commons and open access. We begin by sketching legal and political transformations that favoured knowledge privatization and how knowledge commons and open access emerged to counterbalance them. Then, we refer to experiences from pharmacy and high-tech industries where intellectual monopolies profit from knowledge commons and open access. Pharmacy and high-tech relevance for this analysis is twofold. First, these fields are at the forefront in terms of intellectual monopoly capitalism. Second, to counterbalance the effects of knowledge privatization, a diverse and vibrant community working on open access and knowledge commons characterizes these fields. Overall, the chapter shows that by engaging in these apparently non-market initiatives, intellectual monopolies find new businesses, favour their innovation flow, reduce capital commitments (including R&D investments) and innovation risks, and increase profits by monetizing free work.
