Page:The digital public domain.pdf/48

Rh diversity. In this perspective, the prevailing assumption is that anything of value within the public domain should be commodified. The recent tremendous expansion of intellectual property rights has been justified by this and similar statements.

To put it bluntly, this statement and the like are wrong. No economic theory of intellectual property and commons management supports the prediction stated. Ostrom powerfully advocated the cause of the commons against the mantra of propertisation. Her work showed the inaccuracies of Hardin’s ideas and brought attention to the limitations of the tragedy of the commons. Empirical studies by Ostrom and others have shown that common resources can be effectively managed by groups of people under suitable conditions, such as appropriate rules, good conflict-resolution mechanisms, and well-defined group boundaries. Under suitable conditions and proper governance, the tragedy of the commons becomes “the comedy of the commons”.

Culture is quintessential comedic commons, because it is enriched