NGO Coalitions and the Global Access to Medicines Campaign: The Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on Developing Countries

Abstract

When the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement) was being negotiated between 1986 and 1994, it was argued that these benefits would include increased foreign direct investment (FDI), higher levels of technology transfer or licensing leading to the transfer of know-how and expertise that would contribute to local economic growth and higher levels of domestic innovation. However, there was relatively little substantive debate about the potential for adverse effects to result from higher standards of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement in the developing world (Matthews 2002: 108).