Tragedy of the anticommons

The tragedy of the anticommons is a type of coordination breakdown, in which a single resource has numerous rightsholders who prevent others from using it, frustrating what would be a socially desirable outcome. It is a mirror-image of the older concept of tragedy of the commons, in which numerous rightsholders’ combined use exceeds the capacity of a resource and depletes or destroys it. The “tragedy of the anticommons” covers a range of coordination failures including patent thickets, and submarine patents. Overcoming these breakdowns can be difficult, but there are assorted means, including eminent domain, laches, patent pools, or other licensing organizations.

The term originally appeared in Michael Heller’s 1998 article of the same name and is the thesis of his 2008 book. In a 1998 Science article, Heller and Rebecca Eisenberg, while not disputing the role of patents in general in motivating invention and disclosure, argue that biomedical research was one of several key areas where competing patent rights could actually prevent useful and affordable products from reaching the marketplace. Sometime that term is related with the post-communism.

This term not only generate discussions about its efficiency but also about the ethics of patent human genes of artificial cells or mathematical algorithms.

See also

Game Theory, Tragedy of the commons, Prisoner’s dilemma

Papers

• Heller, M. A.; Eisenberg, R. (May 1998). Can Patents Deter Innovation? The Anticommons in Biomedical Research. Science 280 (5364): 698-701.
• Depoorter, B.; Parisi, F.; Schulz, N. (2003). Fragmentation in Property: Towards a General Model. Journal of Institutional and Theoretic Economics 159: 594-613.
• Buchanan, James; Yoon, Yong (2000). Symmetric Tragedies: Commons and Anticommons. Journal of Law and Economics 43 (1): 1-13.
• Roche, Dominique G.; Lanfear, Robert; Binning, Sandra A.; Haff, Tonya M.; Schwanz, Lisa E.; Cain, Kristal E.; Kokko, Hanna; Jennions, Michael D.; Kruuk, Loeske E. B. (2014). Troubleshooting public data archiving: suggestions to increase participation. PLOS Biology 12 (1): e1001779.