Yale ISP Publishes New Book on Access to Knowledge in Egypt

The Information Society Project (ISP) at Yale Law School has recently released a new book, Access to Knowledge in Egypt: New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development (Bloomsbury Academic 2010), edited by Yale ISP Access to Knowledge Program Director Lea Shaver ’06 and economics professor Nagla Rizk of the American University in Cairo.

Access to Knowledge in Egypt is the second book in the Yale ISP’s Access to Knowledge Research Series. This volume features chapters on current challenges in intellectual property, innovation and development policy from the Egyptian perspective. Chapters address copyright and comparative business models in music, open source software, patent reform and access to medicine, information and communications technology for development, and the role of the Egyptian government in promoting access to knowledge internationally and domestically.

As part of its Access to Knowledge Research Program, the Yale ISP completed a three-year research project supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to support international academic collaboration on access to knowledge challenges and opportunities.

“Conventional wisdom says that stronger protection of intellectual property benefits innovation and economic development,” said Shaver. “This research really puts that assumption to the test, illustrating a number of areas in which less protection is better for economic growth and social well-being.”

Research teams from academic institutions in Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, and South Africa have also joined with the Yale ISP to form the A2K Global Academy, a network of academic centers dedicated to research, education, and policy analysis promoting access to knowledge. The Yale ISP’s A2K research program will continue to focus on research collaborations with these centers, as well as continued advocacy, network-building, and other scholarly projects in A2K. In February, the Yale ISP hosted its fourth Access to Knowledge conference (A2K4) focusing, for the first time, on the human rights dimension of access to knowledge.

The Yale Information Society Project is an intellectual center at Yale Law School that studies the implications of new information technologies on law and society, guided by values of democracy, human rights, and innovation. For more information, visit the Yale ISP website.