About this Event
The 17th ISHTIP (International Society for the History and theory of Intellectual Property) Annual Workshop theme is
"Intellectual Property and Democracy".
In recent years, fundamental elements that had been taken for granted in western liberal democracies appear to be in retreat: the rule of law, separation of powers, and the protection of individual rights, such as freedom of opinion and expression or the right to non-discrimination. Concomitantly, there has been a rise in scholarship in the last decade that have critiqued the proliferating discourse of human rights as being a ruse, which disguises a political reality beset by problems that are social and material in their origins and which cannot be addressed adequately by a rights-centered discourse with an aim to uphold liberal democracy. Beyond these two developments, the very value of democracy is being questioned whilst authoritarian, nationalistic and racist tendencies are on the rise globally.
Historically, western modern intellectual property forms that are now codified in many legal jurisdictions, be they democratic or not, have arisen together with liberal democratic polities, both at domestic and international levels. The idea of a “patent republic” in France and the United States is a conceptualisation of these parallel developments. Intellectual property, both legal and non-legal forms, incorporate assumptions and norms about the public and private, about the role of government, and desired political outcomes. Whilst intellectual property may be construed as constituting a natural property right tied to a polity, historical studies have shown how intellectual property was used as techniques of political control, some of which were undemocratic in nature, such as limitations on freedom of expression. Intellectual property rights have also not applied equally across all jurisdictions at various times or in an equitable manner. Studies in critical intellectual property, as well as in anthropology and sociology, analysed how they have acted differentially across different persons and jurisdictions: what may seem like a badge of citizenship in one country will be the unwanted loss of political self-determination and identity in another.
This workshop aims to take stock of the relationship between intellectual property and democracy – both in its norms, rhetoric, and effect – by bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship which explores this relationship historically and theoretically.
We are grateful to be hosted by the Faculty of Law of the Unversity of Sao Paulo, especially to Vitor Ido for his invaluable support.
More information will be available upon registration nearer the date.
Who we are
ISHTIP promotes interdisciplinary scholarly investigation of the theory and histories of patent, copyright, trademark, and related rights; the diverse roads not taken in the evolution of these legal structures; contemporary countertrends; and of the laws and norms that manage intellectual production and exchange.
Each year, ISHTIP hosts a variety of events, including the Annual Workshop which brings together ongoing research and works-in-progress of its members in a unique interdisciplinary and in-depth format. In addition, ISHTIP hosts an online seminar series, as well as other events, both in person and online throughout the year. ISHTIP members will receive updates on the Annual Workshop and other events via email. Please sign up to become a member and join our mailing list. Events will also be posted on our website ishtip.org as well as announced on the social media platform, Bluesky.
Draft programme as of 20 May 2026
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D2BnLZeyAlhEMpuD7CZ3UPrgN8HEIIb9KA9td5JSzlc/edit?usp=sharing
(subject to change, please check the google document for the latest)
Day 1
Coffee
10:00
Introduction and welcome and meet & greet
Welcome from the Dean Ana Elisa Bechara (Faculty of Law, University of São Paulo) &
Hyo Yoon Kang & Gabriel Galvez-Behar (Co-Directors, ISHTIP)
10:30 - 12:00
PhD Students Presentation Panel
Chair: Severine Dusollier (Sciences Po Law School, Paris))
Leilani Dian Mendes (Law, University of St.Gallen)
Who preserves Indigenous languages in Brazil? Law, policies, and gaps
Bruna de Alencar (History, Federal University of Bahia)
Technology Transfer issues and José Leite Lopes' Critique - Political Relations and Tensions in the Domain of Intellectual Property for the Science and Technology (S&T) of Nation-States
1:00pm - 3:15pm
Session: Patents and Power
Chair: Gabriel Galvez-Behar (History, University of Lille)
Jocelyn Bosse (Law, Queen’s University Belfast)
Patents, Democracy, and National Security
Commentator: Juliana Krueger Pela (Law, University of São Paulo)
Anna Saunders (Law, Australian National University Law School)
Patrimonial patents: Intellectual Property and Gender in the New Tech Economy
Commentator: Maria Lílla Montagnani (Law, Bocconi University, Milan)
Siddharth Jain
Participatory Governance of Intellectual Property in the Global South: Perspectives from
India, Brazil, and South Africa
Commentator: Alexandre Pacheco da Silva, FGV, São Paulo
3:30-5pm
Session: Contestation and Resistance I
Chair: Anna Saunders (Law, Australian National University Law School)
Léo Pascault (Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, Waseda University) & Marta Arisi (Sciences Po Law School, Paris)
Just No: How Creators' Radical Uncooperation Enriches AI Resistance
Commentator: Leonardo Folleto (School of Arts and Communication, University of São Paulo)
Chijioke Okorie (Law, University of Pretoria)
Copyright reform, participatory democracy and constitutional contestation in South Africa
Commentator: Carolina Botero, founder of Karisma Foundation, Colombian civil society digital rights organization.
5:15 - 6:15pm
ISHTIP Mario Biagioli Lecture
A Conversation on Intellectual Property and Democracy
Ana Paula Gomes Pinto & other colleagues – tbc
[In Portuguese, with simultaneous interpretation]
DAY 2
10:30am - noon
PhD Students Presentation Panel
Chair: Jocelyn Bosse (Law, Queen’s University Belfast)
Leona King (Law, University of Leuven)
A Suitable Darkness: Transparency, Secrecy and the Architecture of Intellectual Property
Amira Moeding (History, University of Cambridge)
How Big Data made Big Tech: On the back and forth between open source and enclosure in 'AI' development
Session: Contestation and Resistance II
1:30pm - 3:00pm
Chair: Hyo Yoon Kang (Law, University of Warwick, UK)
Vinicius Bogéa Câmara (National Institute for Industrial Property, Brazil)
Brands in the crossfire: ontological ambivalence, semiotic activism, and the limits of trademark protection in Brazil
Commentator: Steven Wilf (Law, University of Connecticut) (tbc)
James Leach (Anthropology, Centre for research and documentation on Oceania (Credo) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France)
Co-operation and creativity without rights: Melanesian personhood and an alternative normativity
Commentator: Vitor Ido (Law, University of São Paulo)
Session: Beyond Intellectual Property?
3:30- 5:15pm
Chair: Vitor Ido (Law, University of São Paulo)
Daniel França de Oliveira (National Institute of Industrial Property, Program of Post-Graduation of Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development, Brazil) & Natacha Klein Kaefer (History, Religious Studies, University of Copenhagen)
The marginalized importance of Brazilian healers: an analysis based on socio-historical intersections between property and race.
Commentator: Renato Sztutman (Anthropology, University of São Paulo)
Jia Liu (Institute for Public Policy, South China University of Technology)
Beyond Proprietary Rights Protection: Innovation, Credible Subjects, and Pharmaceutical Knowledge in Late Ming China
Commentator: Gabriel Galvez-Behar (History, University of Lille)
Severine Dusollier (Sciences Po Law School, Paris)
Inclusive properties
Commentator: Maria Luísa Lucas (Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, University of São Paulo)
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Faculty of Law of the University of Sāo Paulo - USP, Largo Sāo Francisco 95, Sāo Paulo, Brazil
USD 0.00
