There were not many significant themes or motifs in the movie that revolves around intellectual property. However, there were important aspects of the stories that bring up concerns regarding intellectual property. With the setting of the story taking place in a parallel future, the story featured genetically modified organisms and international intellectual property laws. The story in What Happened to Monday begins with GMO leading to a mutation within humans that led to overpopulation in the world.
The GMO technology featured in the story is not vastly different from GMO currently on the market. In the movie, the side effect of the GMO technology is overpopulation by a mutation that increases the chance of having more than one child per pregnancy. In reality, GMO does not have these side effects and are constantly being monitored and researched with every produce that is genetically modified [3]. Most GMO technology is owned by companies and not the government. As owners of intellectual property, the companies can insist on payments or royalty fees by other users of their proprietary technology [1]. This makes the side effects in the movie highly unlikely as there is significant competition in the market of GMO technology [2]. Additionally, simply having a patent on a certain GMO product does not mean other produce and the same product cannot be researched and patented in a different way. If there are significant side effects on a certain intellectual property, local companies will immediately respond similar to situations in Brazil [4].
In terms of cryosleep and similar technology, there are only traces of deep freezing corpses to preserve the genetic material rather than having a method to freeze a being alive. The technology is patented and protected by intellectual property laws. As there were not mentions of other nations in the movie, it is presumed that every single nation is in a similar situation. However, this is not very realistic as different countries have different regulations and political climates [5]. International trade laws and intellectual property laws in the current age makes cross nation company very difficult to set up. Simply put, by owning the IP in one country does not guarantee that you pertain to the right in another country. Technologies like the smartwatch and smart mirrors in the movie are being created in real life, but it will be difficult to patent all over the country in a world that seems extremely monopolized and on the verge of self-destruction.
References
1. McKeough, Jill. “Intellectual Property and Scientific Research.” Australian Journal of Physiotherapy, Elsevier, 26 Feb. 2014, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0004951414603901.
2. Neves, Pedro Cunha, et al. “The Link between Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, and Growth: A Meta-Analysis.” Economic Modelling, North-Holland, 2 Feb. 2021, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264999321000274.
3. Plumer, Brad. “Who Conducts Research on GMOs?” Vox, Vox, 3 Nov. 2014, www.vox.com/2014/11/3/18092762/who-conducts-research-on-gmos.
4. Figueiredo, L.H.M., et al. “An Overview of Intellectual Property within Agricultural Biotechnology in Brazil.” Biotechnology Research and Innovation, No Longer Published by Elsevier, 22 May 2019, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452072118301114.
5. Bolos, Mihaela Daciana. “IP Protection and International Trade.” Procedia Economics and Finance, vol. 3, 2012, pp. 908–913., doi:10.1016/s2212-5671(12)00249-3.
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