지적재산권의 역사적 연원- 저작권과 특허를 중심으로 -

In recent years, the intellectual property rights (IPR) are increasingly becoming trade goods and the subject of international trade negotiations. During the past decades, intellectual properties earned critical importance for economic development in both developed and developing countries. Developed countries, headed by the United States, that recognize the economic value of the IPR in the world market are aggressively seeking for universal protection of IPR throughout the world. Intellectual properties have unique qualities that distinguish them from other tangible goods. Most importantly, they are public goods created on the basis of knowledge and information accumulated throughout human history and shared by different cultures. However, there is a growing tendency that the quality of public goods are being etched away as the property concept in IPR expands. In this paper, I discuss how copyright and patent laws incorporated the concept of property right as natural right to one's intellectual creations in early formation of the laws in Europe. I argue that copyright law and patent law are the historical products resulting from political, economic, and ideological factors interacting in a certain society. A history of copyright and patent points to that the intellectual property rights as natural lights of authors and inventors as argued by developed countries in international disputes, are not universal, but unique historical products. Copyright and patent laws have been shaped and developed as regulatory measures by governments to promote and control industries by providing authors and inventors with monopoly incentives. Since property right was used as a regulatory device it was restricted. This is to enhance the distribution of knowledge and information rather than to ensure the property right as an absolute right.