Human Rights and Intellectual Property Rights

The present chapter updates the 2007 version, which introduced the foundations and systemic relations between intellectual property and human rights, but did not analyze specific human rights. Given the evolution experienced in the last eight years it is necessary to underline the existence of a very rich scholar production addressing concrete areas of intersection. This is indeed the case of the interface between intellectual property and right to health, the right to food, the right to development, the right to science and culture, the right to privacy, the right to freedom of expression, the right to property, the right to conduct businesses and, among others, the right to fair trial. Similarly, in this period of time the views on the relationship between intellectual property and human rights have also evolved. While a decade ago it was generally held the existence of drastic conflicts between both regimes, presently the majority tends to defend the coexistence between human rights and intellectual property.