Access Versus Incentives: Analysing Intellectual Property Policies in Four UN Specialized Agencies by Emphasizing the Role of the World Intellectual Property Organization and Human Rights

Abstract

Concerns have been expressed over the role of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in influencing the intellectual property policies of other specialized agencies of the United Nations. This article reviews the policies of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in addition to WIPO itself, and finds very interesting patterns of cooperation. While intellectual property law is primarily concerned with providing incentives for the production of new, creative and applicable arts and knowledge, human rights law is primarily concerned with providing improved access to goods crucial for human well‐being and survival. While UNESCO has paid less attention to intellectual property rights over the last decades, rather emphasizing cultural preservation, both FAO and WHO have increased their focus on intellectual property rights. The latter two have increased their cooperation with WIPO, but without a formal agreement with WIPO. The article finds that WIPO, as a specialized agency, has to cooperate with specialized agencies, and there is no reason to believe that the cooperation will be in the form of a “one‐way” process in which WIPO instructs the other agencies. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that intellectual property rights can also hamper research, in addition to impacting on the access to the crucial goods.