Intellectual property, commercial needs and humanitarian benefits: must there be a conflict? (original) (raw)

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, and Development

Knowledge Generation and Protection, 2009

Knowledge embedded as a proportion of the total value of a product grows by the day in all sectors. Technological development is not only present in industrial goods but also in agricultural processes and in services. Capabilities for research, creation, and appropriation of knowledge and its transformation into new technologies form part of the foundations of wealth in the most developed nations and largely explain their economic growth. In this regard, analysis and debate on how to generate knowledge, technological innovation, and development is a topic of utmost importance for the developing countries. As of the entry into effect of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 1995, the architecture of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) has gradually become more complex. TRIPS has been promoted mainly by the most developed nations, and bilateral trade agreements have progressively incorporated diverse complementary rules, some of them known as TRIPS Plus for extending intellectual property beyond the original TRIPS. The mechanisms for intellectual property protection-patents, trademarks, geographical indications, copyright, breeder rights, etc.-present two important aspects: on the one hand, they are forms of appropriation of income that generate monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic gains for their holders and, on the other, they are financial incentives for research inasmuch as they remunerate the innovator for the investments carried out until succeeding in turn their innovations into market products. Both aspects are examined in this chapter.

Intellectual property rights: Key to access or entry barrier for developing countries

1994

Implementation of an innovation-system approach is critical to facilitate the adaptation and assimilation of biotechnology developed in other countries. Protection of IPR will play an important role creating a safe climate for technology transfer and needs to involve a close relationships between science, technology and the market to foster innovations and their dissemination. Sound policies are needed to ensure that researchers, enterprises, NGOs and farmers can participate

Intellectual Property: Perspective of the Developing World

Georgia Journal of International Comparative Law, 2014

One of the main preoccupations of diplomats is always saying "Thank you", and I think I should start by expressing my gratitude for being invited here in these beautiful surroundings. I have never been to this part of the United States before. For me, this is a very unique opportunity. I am also glad to note that under these beautiful and serene surroundings I might stumble into somebody that I perhaps went to school with. Unfortunately, I would need to start going back to school to join the eminent lawyers in these surroundings. That having been said, I very much regret that Ambassador Batista from Brazil will not be here this afternoon because I would like for him to present the viewpoint of the developing countries from Brazil's perspective. As you know, the problems of Brazil are not really the problems of most developing countries. In fact, the problems of Brazil in the ongoing GATT negotiations are not problems of any developing country. Brazil is in a unique situation in these negotiations. But since the Ambassador is not here, I will try to present a comprehensive developing country perspective.

Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development: Development Agendas in a Changing World

Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010

Edited Volume - This comprehensive book considers new and emerging IP issues from a development perspective, examining recent trends and developments in this area. Presenting an overview of the IP landscape in general, the contributing authors subsequently narrow their focus, providing wide-ranging case studies from countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America on topical issues in the current IP discourse. These include the impact of IP on the pharmaceutical sector, the protection of life forms and traditional knowledge, geographical indications, access to knowledge and public research institutes, and the role of competition policy. The challenges developing countries face in the TRIPS-Plus world are also explored in detail.

Intellectual Property an on going Battle for a Development Agenda IT Hahnenberger

Thesis Paper, 2020

The world economy has become highly focused on intangibles and Intellectual property. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced in a 2017 report that nearly one third of the value of manufactured products sold around the world came from “intangible capital,” such as branding, design and technology.1 Thus intellectual property (IP) is now a key economic asset. Today, more than ever, a country’s economic and industrial development is linked to its ability to receive, absorb and use existing knowledge, innovation, technology and science. Related to a nation’s ability to use this knowledge is its ability to access it. Access to knowledge, innovation and technology is established through intellectual property regulations (IPRs). Developed and emerging nations got to where they are today through their bespoke sovereign intellectual property regimes which adjusted themselves gradually to accommodate the increasing capacities of local industrial sectors. Developing nations need the same policy space in order to be able to emerge. For at least the last 75 years this notion has been widely accepted as one of the important fundaments of the world’s development agenda. Global IP policies reflected this notion up until the 1980s. The turning point was when a group of multinationals managed co-opt and control the designing of the world’s intellectual property legislation. This resulted in the creation of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which came into effect 1 January 1995. These strict Western style rules on intellectual property established that all future legislation would no longer be guided by the multinational intellectual property conventions which have one-nation-one vote systems but by multinational trade agreements where developed nations have the dominant bargaining power. The voices of the supporters of development agenda policies and developing nations were muffled by rent seeking agendas. The globally accepted fact that development depends on access to knowledge and the flexibility to access and apply it in sovereign development agendas became irrelevant.

A DILEMMA OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS♦ FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?

2006

The following paper summarizes the importance of intellectual property rights for the developed nations. The paper analyses the historical nature of the IPRs in the context of their implementation in the developing countries, covering the rationale for the dilemma of the developing countries for stronger IPR regime. The concern of the scientific communities is definite, obvious and particularly vulnerable to the limitations of the stronger intellectual property regimes in the developing nations. Different developing countries, with respect to their economic conditions have different concerns regarding the implementation of intellectual property rights. The paper will briefly examine the historical nature, through which the debate on the intellectual property rights implementation started, specifically in the United States, and its unilateral reinforcement of implementation. The paper would also discus the role of World Trade Organization (WTO) especially the TRIPS agreement, and its theoretical implications on the developing countries, the transition period offered by the agreement and its cost/benefit for developing countries.