ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 19, 2012
Intellectual Property in Early Buddhism: A Legal and Cultural Perspective
Ven. Pandita (Burma)
University of Kelaniya
In this paper, I examine the modern concepts of intellectual property and account for their significance in monastic law and culture of early Buddhism. As a result, I have come to the following conclusions: (1) the infringement of copyrights, patents, and trademarks does not amount to theft as far as Theravādin Vinaya is concerned; (2) because a trademark infringement involves telling a deliberate lie, it entails an offense of expiation (pācittiya), but I cannot find any Vinaya rule which is transgressed by copyright and patent infringements; and (3) although the Buddha recognized the right to intellectual credit, commentarial interpretations have led some traditional circles to maintain that intellectual credit can be transferred to someone else.
It is very interesting to see the concepts of intellectual property from a different cultural perspective. In Australia, we only ever learn the common law history of western style law, and your paper was a great contrast to that.