Critical Race Theory as Intellectual Property Methodology

Abstract

This chapter considers how the guiding principles of Critical Race Theory (CRT) can inform the study of race in the context of intellectual property (IP) law. The first part of the chapter traces the origins and tenets of CRT. It then explores the interdisciplinary movement’s core methods, which are aimed at centring race and racism as objects of study. The second part of the chapter turns to the origins, tenets, and methods of Critical Race Intellectual Property, which we define as an interdisciplinary movement of scholars connected by their focus on the racial and colonial non-neutrality of intellectual property law using principles informed by CRT. The chapter concludes with an examination of two books about India and intellectual property law through which researchers can understand how existing scholarship can more deeply engage with questions of race.