On Conflicts Between Rights In Intellectual Property Rights

With the development of market economy, science and technology, intellectual rights which was recognized three hundred years ago has been exerting an increasingly great influence on social life in today's society. As there are so many practical conflicts in intellectual property rights that a theoretical study has become a necessity in response to those questions.Since the conflicts in intellectual property are firstly a question of departmental law, it requires a study of the relevant valid laws. Although the study has its value in application, it lacks theoretical depth in cognition because of the limit of the method and the perspective. A study on philosophy of law will provide a different perspective on conflicts of intellectual rights for criticism and reflection on existing regulations. Since other factors may be noticed besides the regulations per se, the study may help people understand the conflicts better and ultimately solve the problems.Some hold that conflicts in rights is a pseudo question. However, this is not true either in practice or in theory. In fact, there is hardly any right with a clear boundary at a static level. Even at a dynamic level, the clear boundary of right is difficult to be kept. In a changing society, the conflicts of rights are a reality.Right has multi-dimensions though different schools of thought emphasize its different dimension. Generally, right may be viewed in at least three dimensions: normative, ethical and social. In normative dimension, the issue of right is argued according to the existing regulations on the basis of legitimacy. In ethical dimension, the argument is based on justice in light of ethics. And in social dimension, sociality of right is stressed, and the argument is based on social relationships and interactions.Conflicts in intellectual rights refer to both the conflicts between rights in intellectual property rights and the conflicts between intellectual property rights and other rights; they are not only the conflicts between legal rights, but also the conflicts between moral rights.In normative dimension, conflicts of intellectual property rights are related to regulations, which are self-conditioned in logic and consolidated in mechanism. And rights should be well ordered. However, conflicts may be resulted from flaws in regulations and ambiguity of meaning, or contradiction between regulations.In ethical dimension, the conflicts are among justified rights. The"winner take-all"effect of the justice of intellectual rights may result in conflicts between the rights. Furthermore, as there is no order of right justice, conflicts may occur readily between intellectual property rights and other rights when the contradiction between rights is irreconcilable.In social dimension, intellectual rights are closely related to social life. Macroscopically, the protection and restriction of intellectual property by the state may cause conflicts between the rights and the state right/other social rights; microscopically, interaction between the rights and individuals may be the main cause of the conflicts.