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Intellectual Property Rights (intellectual + property_right)
Selected AbstractsSPECIAL INTEREST POLITICS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF STRENGTHENING PATENT PROTECTION IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRYECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 2 2008ANGUS C. CHU Since the 1980s, the pharmaceutical industry has benefited substantially from a series of policy changes that have strengthened the patent protection for brand-name drugs as a result of the industry's political influence. This paper incorporates special interest politics into a quality-ladder model to analyze the policy-makers' tradeoff between the socially optimal patent length and campaign contributions. The welfare analysis suggests that the presence of a pharmaceutical lobby distorting patent protection is socially undesirable in a closed-economy setting but may improve social welfare in a multi-country setting, which features an additional efficiency tradeoff between monopolistic distortion and international free riding on innovations. [source] TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIESTHE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, Issue 1 2001Huala ADOLF First page of article [source] Rights and Access to Plant Genetic Resources under India's New LawDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2004Anitha Ramanna Recognition of ,Farmer's Rights' is an attempt by developing countries to evolve a counterclaim to breeders' Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) promoted under the TRIPs Agreement of the WTO. India is one of the first countries to have granted rights to both breeders and farmers under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001. This multiple rights system aims to distribute rights equitably, but may pose the threat of an ,anticommons tragedy' i.e. too many parties independently possessing the right to exclude others from utilising a resource. If under-utilisation of plant genetic resources results, the Act will have negative consequences for sustaining crop productivity and for the welfare of the very farming communities it seeks to compensate. [source] Defending Intellectual Property Rights in the BRIC EconomiesAMERICAN BUSINESS LAW JOURNAL, Issue 2 2006Robert C. Bird First page of article [source] China,Intellectual Property Rights: Implications for the TRIPS-Plus Border MeasuresTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2010Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan One of the ground-breaking features of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is its part III on the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights. In early 2009, the first WTO Dispute Settlement Panel Report primarily addressed obligations on IP enforcement. Here, the technical success of the US border measures claim comes with a crucial limitation: those Chinese measures that cover basically all of the commercially relevant activity are ab initio excluded from the panel's findings. Because they go beyond the minimum standards of TRIPS, the panel relied on one of the few TRIPS provisions that specify the relevance of TRIPS for additional "TRIPS-Plus" IP protection and enforcement. Given that such "TRIPS-Plus" measures are increasingly common in national laws and international treaties, it is time to take a closer look at how TRIPS addresses TRIPS-Plus IP protection. With a focus on border measures, I conclude that TRIPS contains not only minimum but also maximum standards or "ceilings" that impose limits on additional IP protection and enforcement. Such ceilings in TRIPS can function as limits for further extensions of IP protection and enforcement,as currently negotiated under a proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement or relating to border measures against generic drugs in transit. [source] The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Flexibilities on Intellectual Property Enforcement: The World Trade Organization Panel Interpretation of China-Intellectual Property Enforcement of Criminal Measures and Its ImplicationsTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2010Xuan Li Criminal procedure is one of the three major points in the China-Intellectual Property (IP) case brought about by the United States. A number of experts believed that United States failed on this point because of lack of sufficient evidence. However, the author is of the view that the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) text-based interpretation of IP enforcement flexibility served as the core of the panel decision. This article starts with the criminal thresholds of China's criminal laws, and focuses on analysing the interpretation by the panel on the scope of responsibility and its limitations as enshrined in article 61, which led to the conclusion that the essence of the dispute is how to interpret and determine "IP enforcement flexibility". On this basis, the article expounds the concept and content of the "IP enforcement flexibility" and highlights the implications of this concept on current international TRIPS-plus initiatives. Some implications are given on how the World Trade Organization members can take advantage of the enforcement flexibility to serve the needs of innovation and development in their own countries. [source] Unfettered Consumer Access to Affordable Therapies in the Post-TRIPS Era: A Dead-End Journey for Patients?THE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 3 2010India Case Studies, Kenya Increasing access to essential medicines has become an international priority, given the rapid spread of intractable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It follows that the quests to improve the global quality of healthcare and achieve health equity present a challenge for many countries, especially those that have been hard hit by deadly pandemics and whose populations are also still without essential drugs. Consequently, many countries have stepped up efforts to remove the obstacles to the availability and affordability of essential medicines. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) contains flexibilities that can be used as tools for enhancing access to cheap medicines and for controlling drug pricing. However, these flexibilities are not necessarily a panacea and cannot singly solve the problem of limited access to essential medicines. Put differently, cheaper medicines cannot reach the poor without the infrastructure to deliver them. For this to become a reality, commitment on the part of the member countries to adopt comprehensive and cooperative measures to tackle the burdensome barriers that limit access to critical medicines is needed. It is only then that the flexibilities in TRIPS can be optimized and a real difference made in the lives of poor patients across the developing world. [source] Incentives for and Protection of Cultural Expression: Art, Trade and Geographical IndicationsTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2010Anselm Kamperman Sanders After the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity, the interaction between the protection of traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) and geographical indicators (GIs) is an interesting one. The capacity of a geographical indication of origin to create a global market with local control over brand, quality and methods of production seems to make it immensely suitable for preservation of cultural diversity. Since the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights does not limit the potential causes of action for the unauthorized use of GIs, the tort of misappropriation may be applied in relation to TCEs. In order to reconcile intellectual property rights with non-Western belief systems, application of the tort of misappropriation, unjust enrichment and the remedy of restitution may make enforcement of GIs in relation to TCEs more palatable than other forms of protection. [source] Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Medication: Does Egypt Have Sufficient Safeguards Against Potential Public Health Implications of the AgreementTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 1 2010Heba Wanis The implementation of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) in Egypt raised concerns over public health implications, resulting from pharmaceutical patents, especially because the Egyptian pharmaceutical industry is heavily dependent on generic production. The current level of global competition in the pharmaceutical market, together with the lack of local pharmaceutical research, threaten the industry, and, as a result, access to affordable medication is expected to be impaired. Determinants of access to medicines are analysed. An epidemiological overview of the most prevalent diseases in Egypt has been done in light of the results of surveys about changes in medicine prices and availability, to speculate about potential limitations in access to medicines. Considering domestic pharmaceutical pricing and marketing regulations, which are mainly concerned with affordability, together with the flexibilities in the TRIPS Agreement, short-term solutions to potential access problems will be possible. Egypt has the necessary theoretical safeguards against negative implications of the TRIPS Agreement on access to treatment. However, this does not necessarily mean that these safeguards will be implemented in a way that will protect against the implications of patent protection on medicines in the long term. [source] The "Three-Step Test" and the Wider Public Interest: Towards a More Inclusive InterpretationTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 6 2009Robin Wright Intellectual property law aims to protect the public interest in two often-contradictory ways: by granting exclusive rights to encourage creativity and by limiting those rights in certain situations for socially beneficial purposes. The Three-Step Test in international intellectual property treaties aims to ensure that limitations and exceptions to intellectual property rights do not inappropriately encroach upon the interests of rights holders. This article examines the interpretation of the Three-Step Test as included in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights for copyright and patents by two World Trade Organization dispute-resolution panels and by other commentators. It looks at how these interpretations have dealt with the public policy motivations underlying limitations and exceptions to exclusive rights, and considers the ways in which the public policy intentions that underlie decisions by national legislators to adopt the limitations and exceptions to intellectual property rights can be considered in each step of the test. The conclusion reached is that the Three-Step Test contains the potential to allow both aspects of the public interest to be considered as part of an inclusive interpretation. [source] (Re)implementing the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to Foster InnovationTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2009Daniel J. Gervais This article considers the impact of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in developing countries. After an initial phase of "paper compliance" with TRIPS, followed by efforts to manage the welfare costs of its implementation, a number of developing countries are looking at ways to optimize the implementation or reimplementation of the agreement to foster domestic competitiveness and innovation. One part of the equation involves attracting technology-intensive foreign direct investment. Another involves enhancing local innovation potential. Surfing the wave of outsourcing, which increasingly targets higher knowledge functions, a number of developing countries are becoming globally competitive innovators and displacing the geographical centres of innovation, with substantial political and economic impacts. [source] Copyright Protection for Computer Programs in South Africa: Aspects of Sui Generis CategorizationTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 4 2009Lee-Ann Tong This article considers the protection of computer software in South Africa. It deals specifically with copyright of computer programs as provided for in the Copyright Act 98 of 1978 which makes provision for the categorization of computer programs as a sui generis category of works distinct from literary works. It explores the level of copyright protection under this regime with reference to aspects like the subsistence of copyright, authorship, ownership, duration, moral rights and infringement. It also considers the effect of the sui generis categorization on compliance with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the anomalies that arise in the protection of preparatory work and computer programs. The focus is primarily on South African law. [source] Recent Developments in India's Plant Variety Protection, Seed Regulation and Linkages with UPOV's Proposed MembershipTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 3 2009Prabhash Ranjan The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World Trade Organization imposes an obligation on all member countries to protect plant varieties either by patents or by a sui generis regime or by a combination of both. India explored the sui generis option to provide protection to plant varieties. This legal regime recognizes the rights of commercial breeders and also grants a positive right to farmers and goes beyond the widely recognized international sui generis regime represented by the International Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties (UPOV). Notwithstanding this, India has made an application to join UPOV. However, with the present plant variety law, India's membership application to join UPOV may not be successful. The recent development of bringing the Seeds Bill, which dilutes farmers' rights provisions in the plant variety law, is important in this regard. The article argues that if the Seeds Bill is passed in its present form, it will dilute the beneficial provisions of the plant variety law and pave the way for India to join UPOV. [source] Does Plant Variety Protection Contribute to Crop Productivity?THE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2009Lessons for Developing Countries from US Wheat Breeding The application of intellectual property rights (IP) in developing countries is and remains highly controversial, particularly as regards applications to food/agriculture, and pharmaceuticals, which have direct ramifications for large numbers of peoples. One dimension complicating a reasoned dialogue on the public benefits of IP, particularly when many developing countries are implementing the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as mandated by membership in the World Trade Organization, is a dearth of information on their actual operation and effects. In this study, we address one particular aspect of the limited documentation on the effects of IP systems, the effect of plant variety protection (PVP) on the genetic productivity potential of varieties. Specifically, we examine wheat varieties in Washington State, United States, which are produced by both public and private sector breeders. Results from the study show that implementation of PVP attracted private investment in open pollinated crops such as wheat in the United States and provided greater numbers of varieties of these crops, which are high yielding from both the public and private sectors. These results may provide some insights for policy makers from developing countries on the effects of IP for plants as their TRIPS commitments are being implemented. [source] Neo-Colonial Aspects of Global Intellectual Property ProtectionTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 1 2009Andreas Rahmatian An essential instrument in the process of neo-colonialism by economic means is the establishment of a legal framework of international trade that confers legally enforceable rights that support and safeguard economic penetration and control. This includes, in a similar way as in colonial times, the guarantee of protection of foreign property rights in dependent regions. Today, intellectual property rights fulfil this colonizing role to a large extent. It will be shown that the implementation of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights is one major device that drives such an economic neo-colonialism forward. This is reflected in the history of the making of this treaty, as well as in the methods of enforcement of intellectual property rights, which will be demonstrated in the example of China. Besides this international expansion of Western-style intellectual property rights, there is another, seemingly contrasting and alternative non-proprietarian, legislative project, which nevertheless has neo-colonial effects: the protection of traditional cultural expressions in the context of "traditional" arts. The article discusses that, despite presumably good intentions, this measure reflects colonial features, such as the concept of indirect rule, and invites segregationist legislation. [source] Effect of the TRIPS-Mandated Intellectual Property Rights on Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries: A Case Study of the Indian Pharmaceutical IndustryTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5-6 2008Rajnish Kumar Rai The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights is the most important as well as the most controversial instrument to date concerning intellectual property protection. What is not clear is the impact it will have on developing countries and whether it will actually meet its objective in the ", promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology ,". The proponents of a strong patent regime vehemently argue that strengthening patent protection will lead to greater technology transfer in developing countries, and consequently inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) as it is the most important channel for technology transfer. This article takes the Indian pharmaceutical industry as an example to examine the above assertion, and argues that simply enhancing patent protection may not necessarily result in a corresponding increase in FDI in the Indian pharmaceutical sector. It shows that in addition to strong patent protection, there are equally or even more important factors that have a bearing on the inflow of FDI. [source] The Information and Communication Technologies and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: A Relationship PerspectiveTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2008P. M. Rao Intellectual capital represents an increasingly important area in the world economy. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have played an essential role in the globalization of the economy. The protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is an essential factor in international economic affairs. This article discusses the legal issues concerning proprietary and open software licensing and suggests alternatives to legally enforcing IPRs. Global technology networking and outsourcing have involved the use of open source software (OSS), and have implications for the enforcement of IPRs. Propriety and OSS licensing are analyzed in this article. Companies may adopt alternative strategies to the strict enforcement of IPRs. A relationship view of IPRs is presented, a perspective that adopts relationship marketing as a means of gaining profits from IPRs in the ICT sector. By establishing a relationship to customers, software producers may gain customer loyalty and commitment from users of their software and, in the long run, retain a position as a chosen supplier of software. [source] Intellectual Property Protection for Plant Varieties in JordanTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2008Bashar H. Malkawi The protection of plant varieties is an aspect of intellectual property rights. In Jordan, while some attention has been paid to traditional rights such as copyright, trademark and patent, until recently, virtually no attention has been paid to intellectual property rights with respect to plant varieties. This article reviews the development of intellectual property rights in Jordan for new plant varieties. This article then examines the Law on Protecting New Varieties of Plants. Particularly, the examination is based on comparison with the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to determine the extent to which the Jordanian law meets the rules of these international treaties. To conclude, the article finds that while the Law on Protecting New Varieties of Plants is a landmark in the development of intellectual protection in Jordan, there are certain issues that need to be addressed. To help improve the existing protection for new plant varieties, the article suggests certain actions that can be taken. [source] TRIPS-Plus Implications for Access to Medicines in Developing Countries: Lessons from Jordan,United States Free Trade AgreementTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 6 2007Hamed El-Said Since the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 and implementation of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as a result, the United States (US) sought to impose still higher levels of intellectual property rights on developing countries, a phenomenon that is commonly known today as TRIPS-Plus. The Jordan,US FTA, signed in 2001, contains several TRIPS-Plus rules that restrict the poor's access to medicines, and is today touted by US officials and the US Trade Representative (USTR) as a success, and providing a wide range of benefits. These benefits not only include a higher growth rate, but also more specific benefits to the pharmaceutical sector in particular, such as an improved ability to develop generic medicine and engage in new innovative research, as well as increasing the presence of and collaboration with multinational drug makers. This article analyzes in detail the TRIPS-Plus provisions of the Jordan,US FTA. It challenges the claims that the FTA brings general and specific benefits to developing countries, and provides fresh evidence which strongly suggests that benefits from the Jordan,US FTA have been largely exaggerated while the costs underestimated. [source] Context and Ambiguity in the Making of Law: A Comment on Amending India's Patent ActTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2007Dwijen Rangnekar In implementing its patent-related obligations to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), India opted for the optional additional transitional provisions in article 65.4. This, delayed the introduction of product patents in exempt technologies, notably pharmaceuticals, until 1 January 2005. Ostensibly, this gave India the opportunity to exploit changing circumstances to and emergent views on TRIPS implementation, in particular exploring new interpretations to residual flexibility in TRIPS and any continuing legal ambiguity in TRIPS obligations. Here, the Panel Report in Canada: Patent Protection of Pharmaceutical Products is pertinent in having exhibited rare reticence in stepping back from defining the principle of non-discrimination in article 27.1 of TRIPS. In maintaining legal ambiguity, this reticence also provides space for law-making and regulatory diversity. The article reviews the three amendments to India's Patent Act 1970 and finds mixed use of residual flexibility and some evidence of efforts to explore legal ambiguity. Thus, despite a favourable climate to TRIPS implementation and an active transnational access to medicine campaign, legislators in India have demonstrated a degree of caution. The article concludes that this caution is best explained in terms of deepening ambivalence concerning intellectual property within the government and the changing economic interests of sections of Indian pharma. [source] Intellectual Property Rights in the Making: The Evolution of Intellectual Property Provisions in US Free Trade Agreements and Access to MedicineTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2007Gaëlle P. Krikorian Examining 14 US free trade agreements (FTAs), this article presents a text analysis of their intellectual property (IP) provisions with reference to patents and data protection. For each type of provision present in a given FTA, a "unit of protection" is assigned in that category. This method allows us to estimate the evolution in protection for each type of provision, both relative to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights standard and from one agreement to the next. The analysis reveals a global increase in IP rights (IPR) protection, as the agreements get more stringent and specific provisions get more intricate and complex. But it also shows that the increase of IPR protection is not strictly linear over time and that some variation does exist in the outcomes of the negotiations. Nevertheless, IPR is clearly on the rise, and close comparative analysis of the different texts sheds light on the process of the setting of these new standards. Ultimately, this analysis provides a snapshot of the challenges that will soon be brought to bear on the policies on access to medicine in developing countries. [source] Patent Rights and Human Rights: Exploring their RelationshipsTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2007Hans Morten Haugen The assessment of the relationship between patent rights and human rights has resulted in several tentative findings, such as by the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, that there are "apparent" or "actual or potential" conflicts. Also the World Intellectual Property Organization says that "conflicts may exist" between the two. This article, which is based on a Ph.D. dissertation on the right to food and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), analyzes the relationship between the two, based on an established understanding of conflict in international law, namely incompatible obligations. Also another level of conflict is introduced, namely conflict on the level of prescribed measures in one treaty which impedes the taking of measures prescribed by another treaty. Finally, the article assesses conflict on the level of impact. The findings are that strict legal conflict between the two is difficult to establish, but that there are serious concerns regarding their implementation. Developing states should make use of all the flexibilities that the TRIPS Agreement provides. [source] Intellectual Property Rights Jurisprudence in Tanzania: Turning an Eye to the Commercial Division of the High CourtTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 6 2006Paul Faustin Kihwelo This article seeks to address the practice and judicial development in Tanzania insofar as interpretation of matters relating to intellectual property (IP) are concerned. The article begins by examining the various forms of IP and proceeds to illucidate legal frameworks both globally, which includes matters relating to the World Intellectual Property Organization as well as the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions, and the Tanzania legal framework. In addition, the article examines the genesis and framework of the commercial court in Tanzania and proceeds to make an in-depth analysis of TRIPS enforcement provisions with emphasis on the practice of the commercial court. The author proceeds to examine a number of selected cases decided by the commercial court since its inception to date. [source] Intellectual Property Rights in Bilateral Investment Treaties and Access to Medicines: The Case of Latin AmericaTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2006Rosa Castro Bernieri The link between intellectual property protection and access to medicines has been studied from different perspectives. After signing the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, most developing and least developed countries agreed to protect pharmaceutical products under the patent system. Beyond the criticisms of this system as an incentive mechanism to encourage private investment in research and development, it is widely acknowledged that a balance must exist between its benefits and costs. The patent system interaction with public health policies is twofold: providing incentives to develop new medicines, on the one hand, and increasing the prices of medicines, on the other. The TRIPS Agreement, the Doha Declaration and the subsequent Decision on Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration all recognized this important trade-off. Different effects prevail in each interest group or country and negotiations of international intellectual property right (IPR) standards reflect this conflict. Nevertheless, the post-TRIPS scenario is full of new bilateral and regional agreements. The old bilateral investment treaties (BITS) are evolving towards new forms of all-encompassing arrangements that include intellectual property and liberalization of trade and services, apart from the classical rules for investment protection. This trend imposes a new landscape in IPR protection: one in which the above-described balance might be inclining towards one side. This article analyzes some legal, political and economic features of this new generation of BITS in Latin America. [source] TRIPS-Plus Intellectual Property Rules: Impact on Thailand's Public HealthTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2006Jakkrit Kuanpoth Thailand has proved that a well-funded, politically supported public policy could be effective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS on a national scale. It is currently facing increased pressure to accept higher standards of intellectual property (IP) protection (the so-called Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)-plus) under bilateral free trade agreements (FTA) proposed by the United States. The proposed US FTA threatens to restrict the measures the country can take to pursue affordable drugs, and will affect the ability of Thailand to continue its successful anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment and other healthcare programmes. This article argues that the TRIPS-plus regime generates a negative impact on poor people's access to medicines, and the ARV treatment programme in Thailand is presented as an illustrative example. [source] The Role of Intellectual Property in the Global Challenge for ImmunizationTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 4 2006Tarcísio Hardman Reis The contemporary scenario of international immunization is focused on the implementation of vaccination programs in developing countries, which demonstrates obvious similarities with the policy "access to medicines" under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. However, the debate on immunization involves distinct elements and presents different concerns and obstacles, which will be presented throughout this study. Three introductory remarks need to be made in order to place intellectual property (IP) as a core problem of global immunization. The first is that immunization is a world priority. The second is that the global immunization challenge faces the hurdle of the poverty gap. Finally, IP plays a controversial role in the implementation of immunization programs in less developed countries. [source] Basmati Rice: Geographical Indication or Mis-IndicationTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2006Harsh V. Chandola Indian farmers may not understand the Lockean or the Hegelian justification for intellectual property. Neither do they understand the politics (realpolitik) of the negotiations of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Many of them had no idea that in September 2003 their fate might have been decided in the Cancun Ministerial meeting of World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries. But they do understand simple economics, i.e. if the American company which has registered a patent for basmati rice continues to sell rice as American-style basmati rice, it may hurt their exports. If the Indian Government had a key to the past, they would have definitely renegotiated-TRIPS to protect $350 million export market of basmati rice. Even if we opprobrium TRIPS and characterize it as an instrument of exploitation used by developed countries to protect their own interest, the fact of the matter is, there is no escape from it. Withdrawing from TRIPS entails too many implications for the Indian economy, and it would be cynical to suggest such an idea. Developing and least developed countries have fallen to the economic and political pressure of the Developed countries, and the former group of countries will never be able to convince the latter to renegotiate TRIPS to bring a balance to it, even if their call is eloquent, justified and reflects reality. It would be like knocking on the lid of a coffin: knock, as much as you like, you will not wake him. Post-Cancun (WTO Ministerial Meeting), it is vital for the Indian Government to formulate strategies to protect its interest in TRIPS. The strategy should focus on the options available within the TRIPS framework. We might have lost advantage in the field of patents to western pharmaceutical companies, but if a proper strategy is formulated we will be able to protect our basmati exports. [source] Intellectual Property Rights in Biotechnology and the Fate of Poor Farmers' AgricultureTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 1 2006Bongo Adi The recent revolution in the field of biotechnology has triggered off another round of controversy between the developed countries of the North and the developing countries of the South concerning access to genetic resources and equitable sharing of its benefits. Developed countries assert ownership claims on associated technologies, while developing countries claim ownership of genetic resources. The heart of the matter, however, lies in the application of conflicting conventions and protocols in respect of genetic resources and biotechnology: genetic resources are treated as public goods, while biotechnology is treated as a private good. Developing countries that claim ownership to a large reserve of the earth's pool of genetic resource feel that this exposes them to the exploitative tendencies of multinational corporations (MNCs) that are mainly owned by developed countries of the North. MNCs exploit the advantages as well as the weaknesses in the various conventions increasingly to monopolize the seed and germplasm industry, without due consideration for farmers and developing countries. This paper analyses these developments and proposes that a better regime of benefit sharing that recognizes farmers' or indigenous rights alongside patents and plant breeders' rights will go a long way to introducing a more even playing field that is mutually favourable to both parties. [source] Further Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the WtoTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 6 2005Linking Transfer of Technology with Foreign Direct Investment First page of article [source] Intellectual Property Rights and Enterprise Development in AseanTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 1 2004Ngo Van Lam First page of article [source] | |||||||||||||||||||