Primarily an ethical system that should govern human conduct in the society, utilitarianism is much broader in its scope since several theorists from Bentham . We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Differences in preferences are important to explain variation in individuals' behavior. [65] Specifically, the growth of pirate industries in different parts of the world has constrained returns to creative artists. Utilitarianism was not an entirely new philosophy introduced by Jeremy Bentham. In a utilitarian perspective, criminals are punished because they are morally responsible beings. [12] The fact that a special constitutional provision, the IP Clause, generally defines the ambits of protected IP does not detract from that conclusion. Utilitarian Justification- conservation of nature is important because the environment, ecosystem, habitat, or species provides individuals (aka humans) with direst economic benefits. It is important to understand utilitarianism as it forms the basic tenants of legal theory and function of laws. [7] Locke viewed property as a broad referral to the exclusive rights that individuals hold in their own selves and their own labor. Examples of Utilitarian Ethics. I, 8, cl. At the University of New Hampshire (UNH) she is working toward a bachelor of arts degree, with a double major in political science and philosophy and a minor in classics. The right to useful inventions seems with . Wilder.[25]. Furthermore, increases in the U.S. statutory copyright term since 1790 have not really expanded the scope of copyright protection; rather, they have reapplied the Framers approaches to calculating copyright term while adjusting for changes in average adult life spans and international norms. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. Bentham, Jeremy. [16] The Federalist No. Even in more simplistic cases, such as one in which no coercion is involved but a family relies upon the mothers income, giving the mother a large fine would unjustly affect her dependents. The bad patents policy argument has influenced public policy. Lastly, I would like to thank my friends and family for always supporting me. The Works of Bentham.The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Vol. v. CLS Bank Intl, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014) (claims regarding computer-implemented inventions, including systems, machines, processes, and items of manufacture, are not patent-eligible subject matter); Limelight Networks, Inc. v. Akamai Technologies, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2111 (2014) (a defendant is not liable for inducing infringement of a patent when no one has directly infringed the patent); Octane Fitness LLC v. Icon Health & Fitness, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 1749 (2014) (making it easier for district court judges to find exceptional circumstances justifying the award of fees to the prevailing party); and Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Mgmt. Utilitarian View On Abortion. Copyrights. This means that the less one's income is, the more utility he or she will get from a . In general, the Antebellum period was a time of strong respect for IP rights rooted in the natural rights tradition. The fine would also be designed to cover the costs associated with the arrest and punishment of the convict to alleviate this financial burden on taxpayers. When we apply this basic moral philosophy into the case of punishment, the utilitarian justification fails to respect human dignity. Figure 1. [39] See generally Alden F. Abbott, Abuse of Dominance by Patentees: A Pro-Innovation Perspective, Antitrust Source 1 (Oct. 2014), http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/antitrust_source/oct14_abbott_10_21f.authcheckdam.pdf. (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication. Group of answer choices. Saving the environment does utilitarianism provide https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-121X.1992.tb00459.x, Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. With that said, a more consistent ethical system should be put in place. Bentham, Jeremy, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, edited by Burns, J. H. & Hart, H. L. A. [37] Such decisions include, for example, eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388 (2006) (precluding automatic injunctions for patent infringement and holding that the traditional four-part equitable test for injunctive relief applies to Patent Act cases); KSR Intl Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398 (2007) (making it easier to strike down a bad patent on grounds of obviousness); MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., 549 U.S. 118 (2007) (holding that a patent licensee is not required to terminate or be in breach of its license agreement before seeking a declaratory judgment that the underlying patent is invalid, unenforceable, or not infringed); Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593 (2010) (holding that a financial business method was an abstract idea not entitled to patent protection); Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc., 553 U.S. 617 (2008) (making it harder for a patentee to succeed in an infringement case against downstream users of a component substantially embodying a larger patented invention); Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp., 550 U.S. 437 (2007) (mere software code cannot be a component of a patented invention); Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2120 (2014) (a patent taken as a whole must inform those learned in the field of the scope of the invention with reasonable certainty); Alice Corp. Pty. Epicurus, for instance, promotes the idea of happiness as a goal of human action and draws a distinction between lower and higher pleasures. It asserts that even if the natural law argument can be challenged, it is still the case that without the monetary incentives which come with the monopoly rights from intellectual property, rational agents . Search Pages. But his happiness and well-being are secondary to what is best for the law-abiding members of society, who are more deserving of happiness, and thus come first in our considerations. I know that the knowledge I gained through REAP will contribute to my own understanding of these complexities in the political world, allowing me to bring a well-rounded understanding of utilitarianism to my studies as I pursue a double major in philosophy and political science. According to the utilitarian, an ethical action is one that "maximizes the happiness for the largest number of people". For these felons, asking them to give up smoking pot bordered on cruel and unusual. Punishment for crimes are decided according to the impact they will have in our society. 7. One might ask whether Congress, consistent with its authority under the IP Clause, should cut back on IP rights for pragmatic reasons, such as strengthening the American economy. Consistent with this observation, May and Cooper view the Constitutions explicit singling out of IP rights as emphasizing their importance, not denigrating them in comparison with other property rights: In sum, both traditional forms of property and categories of property in its particular application, such as IP rights, qualify as natural rights. [65] See the documentation enumerated in Thomas A. Schatz & Deborah S. Collyer, Intellectual Property: Making It Personal (2015), Citizens Against Government Waste, available at http://cagw.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Intellectual%20Property-Making%20It%20Personal_web1.pdf. He has been at UNH since 2002. The University of New Hampshire Copyright 2022 Main Street, Durham, NH 03824 603-862-1234 400 Commercial Street, Manchester, NH 603-641-4101 USNH Privacy Policies USNH Terms of Use ADA Acknowledgement Contact the Webmaster, www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/bentham1780.pdf, https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/bentham-the-works-of-jeremy-bentham-vol-10-memoirs-part-i-and-correspondence. Bentham believed that when a government is based on utilitarianism, a system of law and reason is created that values happiness as its foremost principle (Bentham 1789). [25] Gayler v. Wilder, 51 U.S. (10 How.) Over the past decade, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development studies have found a positive association between the strengthening of IP rights (including patents) and important economic indicators as well as a positive relationship between the strengthening of patent rights and increased innovation. Affirmative action was set up to improve the educational . The constituent elements - hedonism and consequentialism - were present in Greek thought. In fact, people who kill intentionally may actually be more dangerous. [48] See Joshua D. Wright, Commissioner, Fed. . I hope that looking at the American people holistically and valuing their happiness will have an increasingly significant presence in United States policy. 22. And if as a result, the reformed criminal can make a better life for himself, that is all to the good. In a criminal law perspective, punishment is regarded as a form of retaliation for the actions of the criminal. "displayNetworkTab": true, [66] The Supreme Court has deferred to Congresss views of its own powers under the Patent and Copyright Clause, thereby leaving standing broad grants of copyright protection, although it has noted that copyright legislation might burden speech so heavily as to violate the First Amendment. So, when they both point in the same direction, we are confident that we are doing the right thing; when they point in different directions, we find we are filled with doubt. On the other hand, if a man commits a deliberate, cold-blooded murder, retributive justice demands that he be put to death, for only then will the killer get what he deserves. However, Kant has raised some objections to the utilitarian justification of punishment due to two main reasons. Thus it is that in Texas, capital punishment has to be justified on both utilitarian and retributive grounds. Specific citations to the works referenced in this section may be found in this volume. 3. According to utilitarianism, we should . It is also egalitarian in that it takes everyone's welfare . Bentham, Jeremy, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, para 4, p 35 The Patent Act of 1836 expanded terms of protection, established the U.S. Patent Office, and provided additional resources for processing patent applications. [47] These initiatives are discussed in sources cited in Abbott, supra note 39, at 6 n.28. Supporters of robust IP rights can therefore claim the force of history and constitutional political philosophy, while critics fail in their claims that IP rights are special privileges that should be deemed second-class property rights (if they qualify as rights at all). utilitarian justification Essay Examples. He has published two books on his studies of the meaning and role of apologies in justice and contributes regularly to interviews in national media outlets. By integrating the utilitarian value of happiness and unconventional punishments, such as rehabilitation and education, the happiness of convicts and society in general could increase. This justification is based on the calculation that the benefits of the theft outweigh the losses caused by the theft. * I wish to thank Dr Brian Carr, Nottingham University for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. "useRatesEcommerce": false, Aesthetic Justification: Appreciation of the beauty of nature. Am. Nick Smith is professor and chairperson of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Department of Philosophy. [44] See To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy, Fed. [52] In particular, a recently published peer-reviewed cross-sectional study covering many countries over two decades finds a strong association among patent rights, economic growth, and increased productivity. For this reason, statistics measuring such things as recidivism or the incidence of certain crimes are useful in assessing the effectiveness of different kinds of punishment. 32, no. 477 (1850). Much additional empirical research by independent scholars supports a strong association between patents and faster economic growth and innovation. The author, Piper Gibson. While Jefferson believed a person has a natural right to the fruits of hislaborshe appears to have regarded property as a social institution fitted for social human beings[21] and thus was out of step with the consensus views of his contemporaries on natural rights. Additionally, a series of Supreme Court decisions made it easier (among other things) to invalidate patents in court and harder for patentees to obtain injunctions, Federal antitrust enforcers began to focus on alleged abuses by firms whose patents are key to the implementation of standards. The first condition is clearly a utilitarian one, for the danger to society is taken into account. Many studies highlight the value of IP in general and patents in particular to the American economy. As noted above, utilitarian considerations lead to the conclusion that capital punishment should be abolished, for it does not benefit society, and may even coarsen it. [22] Robert Thibadeau, Thomas Jefferson and Intellectual Property Including Copyrights and Patents, Saturday Afternoon Adventures on the Internet (Aug. 28, 2004), http://rack1.ul.cs.cmu.edu/jefferson/. utilitarianism, in normative ethics, a tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century english philosophers and economists jeremy bentham and john stuart mill according to which an action (or type of action) is right if it tends to promote happiness or pleasure and wrong if it tends to produce unhappiness or painnot just for the With Professor Smiths help, I have had a rich academic experience at the University of New Hampshire that has featured a multitude of wonderful opportunities, including but not limited to the REAP, which led to the creation of this Inquiry commentary. (1972) ch CVII, para 4, pp 282283 The broad-based international acceptance of copyright protection. Utilitarianism was a progressive doctrine historically, principally because of its universal scope its insistence that everyone's happiness mattersand its egalitarian conception of impartiality its insistence that everyone's happiness matters equally. This negative view is a most regrettable development. The torturer's most potent threat to the captive and isolated subject may be that the torturer can do whatever he wills to the captive and there is no one to restrain him and no one to act as an advocate for the captive. I would like to thank the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research for their consistent dedication to ensuring that UNH students receive amazing research opportunities throughout their undergraduate experience. [11] James Madison, On Property, National Gazette, Mar. The Utilitarian Justification of Torture: Denial, Desert and Disinformation ROD MORGAN First Published April 1, 2000 Research Article https://doi.org/10.1177/14624740022227944 Abstract Torture is prohibited by customary international law. For this reason, those who reject free will, and believe we live in either a deterministic or a tychistic universe, will tend to consider the utilitarian reasons for punishment exclusively. Criticism has not diminished its importance. Customers who fly in first or business class pay a . Render date: 2022-11-04T07:33:31.626Z Feature Flags: { An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice. Trade Commn, Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property (1995), http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/guidelines/0558.htm. It grants the holder the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention in the United States or importing the invention into the United States. For example, he appointed the first full-time superintendent to oversee patent applications and signed the Copyright Act of 1802, which extended copyright protection to maps, charts, engravings, etchings, and prints. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that indicates that we should make the first heap as small as possible and the second one as large as possible. He begins by lamenting what he sees as the limited progress in moral theory concerning first principles (I 1). . Running head: UTILITARIAN JUSTIFICATION Utilitarian Justification for Work Behavior: Exploring the Role of Peer [31] Articulating the Lockean view, Lincoln stated that each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor.[32] He outlined the case for IP protection in various versions of his 1858 Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, praising patent laws that added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things.[33] President Grant signed the comprehensive Copyright and Patent Acts of 1870. 5. [43] Concluding that rights granted to patent holders are highly uncertain (and nearly half of patents litigated to final judgment are invalidated) and represent only a legal right to exclude, Shapiro and Lemley argued for a fundamental rethinking of patent policy in four areas: the system for granting patents, the patent litigation system, the incentives of patent holders to use cross licenses or licenses to settle patent disputes rather than fully litigating them, and the antitrust assessment of agreements among rivals to settle actual or threatened patent litigation. To support my research, I received funding from a Research Experience and Apprenticeship Program (REAP) grant through the University of New Hampshires Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research. . When we put. Presidents who criticized monopolies, such as Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and James K. Polk, signed legislation expanding IP rights. LockA locked padlock The second is retributive. Furthermore, given the grave problem of global copyright theft, this is precisely the wrong time to weaken U.S. copyright protection. Unless they are able to do so, one can only conclude that their actions over time to degrade patent rights and reduce returns to patentswell-intentioned though they may bewill harm the American economy. These forms have received less critical attention lately and are beyond the scope of this commentary. [20] Moreover, ambiguity surrounds Jeffersons views on IP and on property in general. I took particular interest in the ideological purpose behind US judicial laws. [43] See generally Mark A. Lemley & Carl Shapiro, Probabilistic Patents, 19 J. Econ Persp. This breaks down into three parts: The first is incapacitation. , which are essentially the same thing, both having a notion that the consequence of the act is the most important . And what is true for capital punishment, is true generally. Google Scholar. This has resulted in a number of enactments, both national and international, which purport to protect the environment in a number of ways - by controlling, for instance, the release of pollutants into the atmosphere, the dumping of waste products in the sea, the killing of marine life, the export of endangered species and so on. J.J.C. Google Scholar. Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history of philosophy. Rather, what is of paramount importance is the statement that these rights belong to authors and inventors and must be seen as claims of individuals. This language identifies copyrights and patents as inherently natural rightsthe fruits of ones labornot arbitrary special grants of favor by the state. Smart (1973). 8. [6] In particular, Lockes essay Of Property, the fifth chapter of the Second Treatise, offers a justification for the acquisition and enjoyment of private property. Education as punishment would be justified under utilitarianism because there would be little financial harm and the possibility of the great positive effect of reducing crime. In the first case, we allow sentiment to prevail over reason, and let the criminal off easy. Explain Moore's distinction between "thin" and "thick" consent. 16. The utilitarian justification for concentrating on GDP per capita as the objective of development coincides with the utilitarian principle of the greatest good for the greatest number. I will, however, make the case of rule utilitarianism. Explain the Lockean "labor/desert" approach to justifying IP. 2. I would like to specifically thank the REAP program, Mr. Dana Hamel, and the Rogers Family Undergraduate Research Fund for supporting my research that made this article happen. The right to use ones faculties to acquire property is a personal right, and the right to the actual productions of ones labor is a property right in the narrow understanding of the term. Explain the utilitarian justification for IP as an incentive for intellectual work. Finally, the natural rights case for IP was recognized by Abraham Lincoln, and IP rights continued to be highly respected during Reconstruction. To the contrary, the robust protection of patents and copyrights is consistent with the American constitutional tradition and with sound economic policy. [50] See, e.g., Steve Brachmann, Will the Obama Administration Continue to Seek Amendments to the Innovation Act? Utilitarian Justification Utilitarianism is the moral theory that holds that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by the balance of good over evil that is produced by that action. 1, 2000. These DOJFTC guidelines were part of a broad bipartisan American consensus that generally favored strong IP rights. The existence of a web of international copyright protection agreements to which the United States is party. Rationale of Judicia1 Evidence in Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol VI in a collection edited by Bowring, John (1843) Edinburgh, p 238. In referring to Congresss statutory authority to protect IP, Madison opined: The accuracy of Madisons apparent belief that copyright and patent rights were rooted in English common law is not key to this passage. The promotion of utility (Bentham 1789) or happiness in society at large is the logic underpinning this theory. The retributive justification for punishment is a priori, and thus is unaffected by statistics in particular, or experience in general. 3 Goodin . [17] Paul Schwartz & William Treanor, Eldlred and Lochner: Copyright Term Extension and Intellectual Property as Constitutional Property, 112 Yale L. J. at 36 (citing a discussion of Blackstones legal philosophy found in Daniel J. Boorstein, The Mysterious Science of Law: An Essay on Blackstones Commentaries (1941)). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics/trademark-patent-or-copyright. 1860). What is a positive Punisher? The details of the scope of copyright law, its long and tortured legislative development, and litigation surrounding it are beyond the scope of this presentation. Professor Scott Kieff has argued that a patent system that affords strong protection for the right to exclude others yields greater efforts by innovators to exploit new technologies and is more effective at spurring the intensive use of new technologies, government grants, tax credits, or other regulatory vehicles to encourage innovation. It is utilitarian because the prospect of being publicly denounced serves as a deterrent. Proposals for the reform of patent litigation proceduresproposals that some commentators have argued would weaken patent rights. [41] Those guidelines, reflecting substantial economic input, emphasized that all forms of IP were to be treated like other types of property. The most important thing is that the action taken to achieve a certain outcome has to be of the greater benefit of the society at large. A number of international organisations like World Health Organisation, Food and Agriculture Organisation, International Maritime Organisation are engaged in drawing up legislations protecting the environment which are to have global effect. any utilitarian justification is quite another matter. Peter Singer & Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek (2017). For many people the value of a pleasure or a pain will be greater or less according to seven circumstancesthe six preceding ones and one other, namely. He said it was a relief to get it over with. Not believing in free will, utilitarians are likely to believe that crime is a function of societal conditions or mental illness, either of which tends to elicit sympathy for the criminal; and so much so, that of the three types of utility found in punishment, only rehabilitation seems to them to be justified. It is summed up in the principle that the punishment should fit the crime. During the early stages of the Republic, leading commentators and legislators, as well as President Abraham Lincoln, held IP rights in high regard. I believe the result of the action should be the deciding factor in determining its justification. Smith has mentored many undergraduate researchers at UNH and considers it one of the genuine highlights of teaching at UNH. Dr. Smith first met Piper when she was a junior high school student attending the Future Leaders Institutea summer philosophy camp he directed with classics professor Scott Smith. 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