Posted on December 3, 2002

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MacArthur Foundation Awards Grants in Support of Intellectual Property, Public Domain Initiatives

The Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced two grants totaling $850,000 through its special funding initiative on intellectual property and the long-term protection of the public domain.

The foundation awarded $600,000 over three years to the American Association for the Advancement of Science to examine domestic and global developments in intellectual property policies and their potential effects on scientific research and innovation. AAAS will use the funds to help promote public access to scientific information and encourage broader participation in the ongoing debate concerning intellectual property policies and scientific research in the U.S. In addition, the National Research Council at the National Academies was awarded $250,000 over eighteen months in support of its efforts to promote open access to and the preservation of a public domain in scientific and technical data internationally.

The foundation's initiative on Intellectual Property and the Long-Term Protection of the Public Domain focuses on questions of intellectual property rights in the digital era, in particular those that seek to balance the legitimate concerns of the creators of intellectual property with the public's right to access that knowledge.