The Wto Intellectual Property Rights And The Knowledge Economy

'This collection, edited by one of the leading scholars in the field, provides a broad-based introduction to the economic and legal issues raised by TRIPs and the accompanying globalization of intellectual property law. It ranges from accessible, policy-oriented essays to cutting edge technical papers. Scholars, students and policymakers with an interest in intellectual property issues should find the collection to be an invaluable reference.' - Alan Sykes, University of Chicago, US This comprehensive collection brings together major articles written by leading economists, political scientists and legal scholars to analyse the complexities of the modern global system of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and its relationship with the WTO.

New intellectual property regimes are entrenching new inequalities. Access to information is fundamental to the exercise of human rights and marketplace competition, but patents are being used to lock up vital educational, software, genetic and other information, creating a global property order dominated by a multinational elite. How did intellectual property rules become part of the World Trade Organization's free trade agreements? How have these rules changed the knowledge game for international business? What are the consequences for the ownership of biotechnology and digital technology, and for all those who have to pay for what was once shared information? Based on extensive interviews with key players, this book tells the story of these profound transformations in information ownership. The authors argue that in the globalized information society, the rich have found new ways to rob the poor, and shows how intellectual property rights can be more democratically defined.

Offers insights into what it means to trade in knowledge in today's technological and commercial environment.

How can we help poor people earn more from their knowledge rather than from their sweat and muscle alone? This book is about increasing the earnings of poor people in poor countries from their innovation, knowledge, and creative skills. Case studies look at the African music industry; traditional crafts and ways to prevent counterfeit crafts designs; the activities of fair trade organizations; biopiracy and the commercialization of ethnobotanical knowledge; the use of intellectual property laws and other tools to protect traditional knowledge. The contributors' motivation is sometimes to maintain the art and culture of poor people, but they recognize that except in a museum setting, no traditional skill can live on unless it has a viable market. Culture and commerce more often complement than conflict in the cases reviewed here. The book calls attention to the unwritten half of the World Trade Organization's Agreement on the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). TRIPS is about knowledge that industrial countries own, and which poor people buy. This book is about knowledge that poor people in poor countries generate and have to sell. It will be of interest to students and scholars of international trade and law, and to anyone with an interest in ways developing countries can find markets for cultural, intellectual, and traditional knowledge.

The fast-evolving relationship between the promotion of welfare-enhancing competition and the balanced protection of intellectual property (IP) rights has attracted the attention of policymakers, analysts and scholars. This interest is inevitable in an environment that lays ever greater emphasis on the management of knowledge and innovation and on mechanisms to ensure that the public derives the expected social and economic benefits from this innovation and the spread of knowledge. This book looks at the positive linkage between IP and competition in jurisdictions around the world, surveying developments and policy issues from an international and comparative perspective. It includes analysis of key doctrinal and policy issues by leading academics and practitioners from around the globe and a cutting-edge survey of related developments across both developed and developing economies. It also situates current policy developments at the national level in the context of multilateral developments, at WIPO, WTO and elsewhere.

Introduction -- Intellectual property rights basics -- Global intellectual property holdings -- Contribution of intellectual property to U.S. economy -- The organized structure of IPR protection -- U.S. trade law -- Issues for Congress.

The first edition established itself as one of the leading books to situate the issue of intellectual property within the discipline of International Political Economy (IPE). Since its publication, intellectual property has continued to rise up the global agenda, reflecting expanding interest in the area among policy-makers and advocacy groups, linked to the increasingly fraught politics of the global governance of IPRs. Significantly revised and updated to take account of developments within the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization, this edition incorporates the author’s recent research on IPRs. It retains the theoretical and analytical elements of the first edition, whilst offering students and researchers a detailed analysis of how intellectual property is politically constructed, and how it is linked to the economics of knowledge and information in the contemporary global political economy. Rapidly-developing issues addressed in the work include: arguments around the implementation of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of IPRs (TRIPs) the WIPO Development agenda and the ‘resistance’ to socialization programmes the AIDS crisis and the pharmaceutical industry Digital Rights Management This book will be of interest to students and researchers of international political economy, international relations and intellectual property law.

Over the course of history, different legal instruments for protecting intellectual property have emerged. These instruments differ in their subject matter, extent of protection, and field of application, reflecting society's objective to balance the interests of creators and consumers for different types of intellectual works. These legal instruments are just one of the pieces that form a national system of intellectual property protection. Also crucial to the system's overall effectiveness are the institutions administering these instruments, the mechanisms available for enforcing IPRs, and the rules regarding the treatment of non-nationals. To address some of the issues concerning IPRs, this paper defines what they are and attempts to evaluate the relationship between the protection of intellectual property and economic activity in developing countries. It also summarizes the economic effects of IPRs in terms of creation and diffusion of knowledge and information; and market structure and prices. Furthermore, it discusses the reformation of IPRs regimes and makes recommendations for their administration and enforcement. This paper consolidates some of the research from the 'World Development Report 1998/1999: Knowledge for Development' and some contributions made at an Internet-moderated conference conducted by the Bank's TechNet program. It will be of interest to governments, investors, and international organizations.