Intellectual property protection and European ‘competitiveness'

Compared to the US, the European Union is often depicted as having adopted a ‘soft' approach to intellectual property rights (IPRs), despite the substantial role it has played in the ratcheting up of IPR standards. This article counters this view by showing how ‘competitiveness' discourses from the late 1970s onwards have legitimised a ‘more = better' IP strategy both within and without Europe. By revisiting how earlier concerns about European competitiveness did not trigger a similarly expansionist IP strategy, the argument is made that the relationship between enhanced IP protection and improved European competitiveness is a political and discursive relationship that is ridden with inconsistencies – a relationship that can and should be formulated differently.