Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2025

Abstract

This paper assesses the deficits of copyright law for digital science, and potential solutions thereto, in the light of the right of everyone “to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications” (“REBSPA” or “right to science”), as protected in Article 15(1)(b) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966. While, in the shorter term, existing copyright law needs to undergo certain reforms (which would all be supported by the REBSPA) to accommodate the needs of science, in the longer term, the right to science, thus the argument here, requires something else – much more, in fact. Firstly, there needs to be a move toward “another” science, a science reconceptualized so as not to be primarily driven by instrumental and profit motives. Secondly, following from that, science would need to be genuinely open. Among other things, this requires the creation of a “true” scholarly knowledge commons, necessitating far-reaching changes in the way copyright applies, or potentially its abolition, in science. Thirdly, the envisaged scholarly knowledge commons would have to be globally inclusive in scope – which is to be achieved by recognizing and respecting the mostly ignored international dimension of the right to science. This paper questions the traditional role of the commercial scholarly publishers and argues for a paradigm shift in the sphere of copyright and science. Identifying flaws and gaps in the current official interpretations of the REBSPA, the right to science is reinterpreted in various respects here. In making the case, the deconstructive concept of “adequacy for science” is inter alia relied on. The paper is based on ideas articulated in another paper by the same author, “Reforming Copyright or Toward Another Science?,” in this paper series (PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series no. 7 (1922)).

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