Unfettered IPR guts the Public Domain --- we need restrictions and impact assessments of IPR protection policies to protect the Public Domain

(Graham J. Reynolds University of British Columbia (UBC), Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, “The Precautionary Principle and its Application in the Intellectual Property Context: Towards a Public Domain Impact Assessment,” pg online @ https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2347922 //pa-ef)

Boyle defines the public domain as “material that is not covered by intellectual property rights.”9 For the purposes of this chapter, I will use Boyle’s definition as a starting point and expand upon it by suggesting that the public domain encompasses material that has never been covered by intellectual property rights; material formerly covered by intellectual property rights in which the grant of rights has expired (or has been declared invalid); uses of material that are deemed not to be covered by intellectual property rights through the application of defences/exceptions to intellectual property infringement (or that can be considered to be user’s rights10); and uses of material that are not covered by intellectual property rights by virtue of the application, by intellectual property owners, of flexible licences through which certain rights are disclaimed.11

This chapter assumes the importance of the public domain. It accepts that the public domain fosters creativity; facilitates innovation; enables self-expression; and that it is instrumental in both the development of individual identity and in the construction of communities.12 If these assumptions are correct, and the public domain is important, then it is necessary to develop mechanisms through which it can be protected. Among other potential threats, expansions in intellectual property protection (for instance by increasing the term of copyright) risk harming the public domain by placing more material under the control of rights-holders for longer periods of time.13