Technical Assistance as a Hedge to Intellectual Property Exclusivity

Abstract

Abstract This chapter assesses the connection between neo-colonialism and intellectual property. An essential part of the process of neo-colonialism by economic means is the establishment of a legal framework of IP that confers legally enforceable rights that support and safeguard economic penetration and control. This process includes, in a similar way as in colonial times, the guarantee of protection of foreign property rights in developing countries. The TRIPS Agreement and other hard norms, such as TRIPS-plus bilateral trade treaties concluded between the EU and developing countries, further contribute to such neo-colonial control. They promote a particular vision of economic ordering that seeks to increase the level of IP protection beyond that required by TRIPS. However, an often overlooked but essential aspect of such control is that, once these treaties have been concluded, the US, the EU, and other leading industrialised trading blocs actively offer technical assistance with implementation. The chapter argues that such technical assistance further hedges IP's exclusivity through a form of Trojan Horse IP approach and by establishing an elite IP community in developing countries that sees things from the perspective of the dominant industrialized country.