CIPIL Seminar: 'Governing Medical Knowledge Commons'

Speaker: Michael J. Madison - Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Location: B16, Faculty of Law

The presentation will provide an overview of a forthcoming book, Governing Medical Knowledge Commons (“GMKC”) (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2017), an edited collection of 14 case studies of knowledge commons governance in the medical practice and medical research fields.

Each case study borrows and applies the Knowledge Commons research framework developed and applied in Governing Knowledge Commons (Oxford University Press, 2014) (“GKC”), the purpose of which is to systematize investigations into institutions producing potentially sustainable innovation and creativity in the absence of or alongside traditional intellectual property regulation. Both books, and the research project that they advance, are collaborations among three researchers: Michael Madison (University of Pittsburgh), Brett Frischmann (Cardozo Law School), and Katherine Strandburg (New York University).

GKC collected case studies from a wide variety of knowledge commons, including contemporary and historical examples of scientific and technological innovation, and examples drawn from modern and older creative culture. The new collection, GMKC, focuses knowledge commons research on a single field. Cases are drawn from patient organization and advocacy; clinical care; medical research; and the development of infrastructure and tools. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the research framework, a summary of the case studies in GMKC, and a more detailed description of a handful of cases. Findings from GKC are refined and extended. The presentation will also introduce the next volumes forthcoming in the Knowledge Commons project.

For further background material see: http://knowledge-commons.net/

About the speaker

Professor Michael Madison is Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Innovation Practice Institute at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He writes and teaches about intellectual property law and policy, and about questions concerning the production and distribution of knowledge and innovation. He is the author of more than 30 journal articles and book chapters, the co-author of The Law of Intellectual Property (Wolters Kluwer, 4th edition 2013) and the co-editor of Governing Knowledge Commons (Oxford University Press 2014). He is the co-founder of the global research network titled the Workshop on Governing Knowledge Commons. Classroom subjects include various disciplines of intellectual property law, contracts and commercial law, and property law. His research and scholarship address the emerging discipline of knowledge commons, governance of innovation institutions, and knowledge as a subject of legal regulation. He joined the Pitt Law faculty in 1998. Before becoming a law professor, Professor Madison practiced law in San Francisco and Silicon Valley for nine years. He received his JD from Stanford University and his BA from Yale.