Strengthening Of Intellectual Property Rights Research Articles

Genetically Modified Crops and Food Security in Nigeria; Facts and Myths

Biotechnology per se is not a panacea for the world’s problems of hunger and poverty. However, genetic engineering in particular offers outstanding potentials to increase the efficiency of crop improvement. Thus, biotechnology could enhance global food production and availability in a sustainable way. Studies have shown that transgenic crops are very appropriate for agricultural producers and consumers in developing countries as the entire technology can be packaged into the seed. It can easily be integrated into traditional smallholder farming systems through proper stewardship. Except for a few innovative transfer projects, the application of biotechnology until now remains concentrated in the industrialized world. However due to insufficient owned scientific and regulatory capacities, the increase in privatized international agricultural research and the strengthening of intellectual property rights of these organizations complicate the access of developing countries to biotechnology. Therefore, profound government and Institutional adjustments that cuts across new technologies and regulations are essential to ensuring that biotechnology does not bypass the resource poor, smallholder farmers in Africa and Nigeria in particular.

The remarkable development and significance of constitutional protection for intellectual property rights in post-Arab Spring constitutions

Prior to the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, no constitutional protection for intellectual property (IP) existed in the many earlier constitutions of Egypt or Tunisia. It is remarkable and surprising therefore that, in 2014, IP clauses appeared in the post-revolutionary constitutions of both countries. This raises the key question: why add to the existing regulation of IP in this way. Is constitutional protection just another example of the inexorable strengthening of IP rights (IPRs) or could it be a means of constraining them, where necessary, to protect other rights? This article argues that including IP in a constitution may, rather than merely strengthening IP owners' rights, open IPRs up to competition against more fundamental constitutionally protected human rights and, for example, support the prioritization of the right to health. This could be a valid explanation for and potential use of the inclusion of IP in the Egyptian and Tunisian Constitutions.

LINKAGES BETWEEN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS REGIME AND INCOME INEQUALITY

This paper examines the impact of strengthening Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) on within-country income inequality for a cross-section of 65 developed and developing countries for the time period 1995-2009.The results indicated that strengthening of IPRs led to an increase in income inequality in WTO-member developing countries after they started modifying their national IPR regimes to conform to the TRIPs requirements. IPRs tend to raise income inequality by generating a more skewed distribution of wages. Stronger IPRs increased the demand for skilled labor force as it raised the return on R&D activities. This caused a relative increase in skilled labor wages, creating a wage bias in favor of skilled labor against unskilled labor, thus aggravating income inequality within a developing country. Moreover, the effect on inequality was more pronounced for developing countries that were experiencing higher per capita GDP growth rates. As for the developed countries included in the sample, the analysis seemed to suggest that IPRs led to a decline in income inequality over the study period.

Medical Patents and the Right to Health – From Monopoly Control to Open Access Innovation and Provision of Medicines

The coming into force of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in the mid-1990s led to a massive strengthening of intellectual property rights in the global South. This was particularly controversial concerning restrictions on access to medicines and set the stage for spirited debates concerning the impacts of medical patents on the realisation of the right to health in the context of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Efforts to reconcile the right to health and medical patents led to a minor amendment of the TRIPS Agreement that has hardly had any impact on the ground while further strengthening of patent protection was obtained, for instance, through bilateral agreements. In the human rights field, attempts to strengthen the protection afforded by the right to health have been partly diluted by efforts to strengthen the claims of inventors under human rights law. At this juncture, two main elements need to be taken forward. The first is to revisit our understanding of the human right to health to ensure, for instance, that there is no compromise in the liberal promise of universality, in particular access to medicines for every person who needs them. The second element is the need to rethink the way in which legal incentives are given to innovate. In a context where patents are the only recognised legal incentive to innovate in the medical field, this discourages the development of medicines for diseases that may affect mostly poor patients, since companies need to recoup their investments. Further, it militates against giving attention to other systems of medicine whose innovations can usually not be protected under the patent system, even where treatments are effective. Keywords: TRIPS Agreement, Access to Medicines, Right to Health, ICESCR

Does innovation matter for total factor productivity growth in India? Evidence from ARDL bound testing approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether innovation plays a significant role in the total factor productivity (TFP) growth in India at an aggregate level.Design/methodology/approachThis study first estimates the TFP growth using a growth accounting framework. In the second stage, the authors examine the long-run and short-run impact of innovation on TFP growth using the ARDL bound testing approach.FindingsThe results indicate a cointegrating relationship between innovation and TFP growth. Further, coefficients of long-run elasticity show that the increase in overall innovation activities improves the TFP growth. Other factors such as human capital, financial development and FDI do not affect the TFP growth in the long run; however, these variables significantly affect the productivity growth in the short run.Practical implicationsFindings of the study suggest that the innovation-friendly policies such as the strengthening of intellectual property rights, R&D subsidies and innovation rebates may spur the productivity growth, and hence, good growth and prosperity as well.Originality/valueHaving devoted a large volume of literature to address the sources of economic growth, the present study focuses on the determinants of TFP growth in India which may fall in similar category but differ in several angles: First, the authors construct a TFP index using a growth accounting framework. Second, the authors construct an innovation index using principal component analysis which is new to the literature and also an innovation index. Third, given the scanty innovation activities in low developed countries like India and its widening role in the contemporary literature, special emphasis will be given to this aspect. Finally, the effect of the examined relationship on TFP growth in the long run and short run provides several implications for policy purpose to the developing nations like India.

Improvement of the course “Management of intellectual property” based on the mixed state contract in the field of scientific R&D

Intellectual property (IP) is one of the forms of storing knowledge – intangible assets of knowledge economy. The translation of IP knowledge to the young generation is one of the challenges of nuclear knowledge management. At the NRNU MEPhI (National Research Nuclear University MEPhI), the subject is studied within the framework of the academic course “Management of intellectual property. The aim of the course is to train qualified specialists, ready to use modern methods of strategic management of IP in commercial firms. The article is devoted to the strengthening and transfer of IP rights for scientific output application in industry and commerce. The state remains the main source that finances all the significant developments in the field of science and technology. Therefore, the primary task is to effectively utilize the R&D output created at the expense of the Federal budget, both within the state order and the estimated budget financing. Currently, there exist contradictions in the area of strengthening and transfer of rights for R&D in the field of science. The newly borne concept dealing with the strengthening of IP rights for the scientific R&D output, centers on the theory of a mixed state contract and is conveniently integrated with the academic course mentioned. Knowledge itself takes the form of IP, as soon as it becomes formalized. The academic course when supplemented with various approaches to strengthening and transfer of IP rights for the scientific R&D output certainly gives a better understanding of the commercialization process of the intellectual capital and structures relevance to intellectual property. The research material is integrated with the educational process, and the academic course “Management of intellectual property” is designed both for economic and engineering specialties.

Nueva división internacional del trabajo, capitalismo cognitivo y desarrollo en América Latina

Este artículo se propone revisar la problemática del desarrollo en América Latina en función a las transformaciones inherentes a la crisis del capitalismo industrial y a la transición hacia un “nuevo capitalismo”, categorizado como capitalismo cognitivo. Con este objetivo, el análisis se divide en tres partes. La primera dirigida a la revisión de la crisis estructural del paradigma de la industrialización, legado de las teorías del desarrollo formuladas entre los años 1950-1980. La segunda parte aborda las dificultades y desafíos producidos por la nueva división internacional del trabajo, fundada sobre los principios cognitivos y el fortalecimiento de los derechos de propiedad intelectual. Finalmente, la tercera parte busca identificar ciertas características de una estrategia de desarrollo post-industrial para los países latinoamericanos.

The effect of intellectual property rights on agricultural productivity

AbstractThis article explores how the strengthening of intellectual property (IP) protection affects agricultural productivity in a panel of countries for the period 1961–2011. Using an index of IP protection for plant varieties, we study the effect of stronger intellectual property rights (IPRs) on cereal yields and two different types of cereals: Open‐pollinated (wheat) and hybrid (maize). We found that the strengthening of IPRs has a positive effect on productivity of cereals for high‐ and low‐income countries. However, we found no significant effect for middle‐income countries. In addition, we found that becoming a member of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights negatively affects cereal yields. Finally, we found evidence of the existence of nonlinearities in the effect of IPRs on agricultural yields, which confirms a threshold effect of IPRs that also varies for countries of different income level. The findings support the hypothesis that country specificities are important in determining the effect of IPRs and imply that there is no unique system that fits all.

Do Intellectual Property Rights Influence Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions?

This paper analyses whether the strengthening of intellectual property rights (IPRs) systems affects decisions of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and if their influence is different for developed and developing countries, and across industrial sectors. We estimate an extended gravity model to study bilateral number of M&As using data for the post-TRIPS period (1995-2010) and two different indexes that measure the strength of IPRs systems at the country level. We find that IPRs influence decisions of cross-border M&As in all the sectors of different technological content. Furthermore, a strengthening of IPRs leads to a larger increase of M&As in developing countries than in developed countries. This calls the attention on the possible implications for least developed economies.

Intellectual Property Rights and International Trade of Agricultural Products

The signing of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) had led to a process of global harmonization and tightening of intellectual property rights (IPRs) systems. As part of this process, the use of IPRs in agriculture has been increasing in the last decades. This paper studies the effect of intellectual property rights on agricultural trade, for the post-TRIPS period (1995–2011), using a new yearly index of IPRs, for 60 developed and developing countries. We study the effect of stronger IPRs on total trade, bilateral trade, and trade margins using different econometric techniques. We found that the strengthening of IPRs has been having a negative and uneven effect on agricultural trade at different levels of disaggregation. The gravity estimation showed that both the IPRs of the importer and the exporter have negative effects on total bilateral trade and that the probability of creating new bilateral trade links increases with the importer’s IPRs. Finally, we found that stronger IPRs have a negative effect on the intensive margin of trade and a positive impact on the extensive margin. Overall, the evidence shows that agricultural trade related to the developing world has been more negatively affected, which calls the attention to the idea that a common system can equally work for all countries.

Intellectual property rights protection, ownership structure and vertically related markets

This article considers the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) as a determinant of the mode of foreign direct investment. By analyzing wholly owned investment and equity joint venture (JV) in vertically related industries, I find that as IPR protection gets more stringent, the propensity to choose equity JV decreases. Analysis of the firm-level data set from Taiwanese multinational manufacturing enterprises in 2006 lends supports to this result. This article also finds that local welfare increases after entry of a multinational enterprise (MNE) if the local market size is not too large. In addition, after MNE’s entry, further strengthening of IPR is beneficial to the MNE but is detrimental to local welfare.

DOES THE STRENGTHENING OF IPRS WIDEN THE GROWTH GAP?

This article builds a model of cumulative growth in order to analyze the relationship between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and economic growth in 38 countries from 1980 to 2005. The analysis focuses on the impacts of IPRs on the growth gap between countries using a catch-up model and USPTO database. The empirical results show that the strengthening of IPRs has a positive impact on innovation in developed and developing countries in Asia, while we fail to find evidence in Latin America. Secondly, similar to assertions made by De Long and Summers (1991) and Dowrick and Nguyen (1989), investment in fixed capital plays a critical role in growth gap dynamics. What needs to be emphasized here is the cumulative causal relationship between investment and growth: investment in fixed capital improves productivity and encourages economic growth thereby triggering even more investment. This paper confirms that the strengthening of IPRs and investment in fixed capital contribute to the widening of the economic development gap for the 1980–2005 period.

Innovation and labour mobility

The present model introduces labour mobility in an otherwise standard model of innovation and imitation. As in Grossman and Helpman (Innovation and growth in the global economy. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1992) a wide-gap and a narrow gap steady state equilibrium is characterized. It is shown that there can be multiplicity of equilibrium in the wide gap case. Interestingly, free labour mobility causes the growth rate to be identical for both the wide gap and the narrow gap case. A strengthening of intellectual property rights reduces the global growth rate of the economy both in the wide gap and narrow gap equilibrium. In case of the unique narrow gap equilibrium, stronger property rights reduces the rate of imitation unambiguously, but the effect of stronger property rights remains ambiguous in case of wide gap equilibrium. Also subsidy by North to innovation, in a Narrow gap equilibrium, has no effect on the rate of imitation or on the global growth rate.

The Right of Everyone to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and the Right to Food: From Conflict to Complementarity

In the area of seed policies, the dominant paradigm of agricultural development favors the strengthening of intellectual property rights in order to promote and reward innovation by the private sector, combined with the provision of improved seed varieties to farmers in order to help them produce higher yields. But this model may leave out precisely those who need most to be supported, because they are the most vulnerable, living in the most difficult environments. In contrast to dominant approach, this article argues that the poorest farmers would be the primary beneficiaries of an alternative policy, that would favor the maintenance and enhancement of agrobiodiversity by rewarding the farmers for their own innovations, and by treating genetic resources as a public good that should be made accessible to all, as has been the case traditionally in farmers' seed systems. There are other ways of putting science at the service of farmers that may be more effective in reducing rural poverty. This article assesses in this light the complex relationship between the right to adequate food and the right of everyone to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. Both rights are recognized by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. They need to be made more mutually supportive in the future, if research in agriculture is to truly serve the needs of the poor.

Trade‐related intellectual property rights: industry variation and technology diffusion

Abstract This paper assesses how a strengthening of intellectual property rights (IPRs) affects international technology diffusion by altering the volume of high‐tech exports into developing countries. A simple North‐South general equilibrium model in which industries differ in their imitation rates is developed. Stronger IPRs encourage Northern firms in a wider range of industries to start exporting. Exports in industries with the highest risk of imitation rise, while exports in other industries may fall. More technology diffuses to the South because new high‐tech products are introduced in the Southern market. This works against the reduction in technology diffusion caused by limited imitation.

Reconceptualising the Debate on Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Development

Governments and scholars have for some time grappled with the question of whether there is a connection between intellectual property (IP) and economic development, and if so, how strong is the link. Economic literature is equivocal, with some studies concluding that the connection is strong while others conclude it to be fairly weak (and that there may not even be a connection for LDCs). What is quite clear is that countries have historically shaped and amended their IP regimes to promote domestic needs and objectives. It is also clear that several countries with weak IP policies achieved rapid economic growth and development over the last five decades. For these countries, the strengthening of IP rights (IPRs) occurred after the initial stages of increased growth and development. It is also well known that countries failing to adequately protect IP limit the upside of their economic development.Domestically implementing the obligations set out in the TRIPs Agreement provides stability, assists domestic inventors and sends a positive signal to foreign investors. Of course, implementing TRIPs also has its downside, namely by forcing countries to pay a higher price for technology. Herein lies the dilemma, in which developing countries raise IP standards in order to fulfill international obligations and attract foreign investment but at the same time potentially stifling economic, financial and social development by increasing payments to the developed world for superior (and sometimes essential) technologies.This article argues that IP is critical to full-scale technological and economic development for developing countries. Linking IPRs and economic development is not often a popular perspective, but it is clear that developing countries must now operate from the perspective of TRIPs being the minimum level of protection mandated by the international community – substantially deviating from the TRIPs standard is not a viable option. With IPRs and protection being raised in almost every free trade agreement negotiated by developed countries, as well as through the negotiation of new multilateral treaties, such as the proposed Substantive Patent Law Treaty and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the time is ripe for developing countries to revisit the role of IP and economic development. Countries must seek the answers to a number of questions – have increased IPRs impacted upon poverty reduction strategies? Have IPRs encouraged or led to increased growth? How have IPRs impacted access to information, knowledge, education and research? Is the IP policy coherent with other public policy issues such as investment, public health, trade and competition?

Intellectual Property Rights, Human Capital and the Incidence of R&D Expenditures

Numerous studies predict that developing countries with low human capital may not benefit from the strengthening of intellectual property rights. The authors extend an influential theoretical framework to highlight the role of intellectual property rights in the process of innovation and structural change. The resulting theory is consistent with a stylized fact that appears in the data, namely that countries with poor intellectual-property protection may accumulate human capital without a corresponding increase in research and development investment as a share of national income. The model predicts that without minimum intellectual-property protection, additional education may result in more imitation rather than innovation. The preponderance of the econometric evidence presented in this paper suggests that interactions between human capital and intellectual property rights determine global patterns of research and development effort, and intellectual property rights tend to raise the effect of education on the incidence of research and development.

Droits de propriété intellectuelle et développement. Quelques repères et analyse préliminaire sur l'économie post-TRIPS

L’article analyse les conséquences pour les pays en développement de l’existence, du fonctionnement et de l’évolution du système de brevet tel qu’il est maintenant structuré par les TRIPS (au sein de l’OMC). L’économie post-TRIPS est définie comme la nouvelle structuration des relations économiques internationales modifiées sous l’effet du renforcement des droits de propriété intellectuelle. C'est un survol commenté de la littérature théorique et empirique sur les TRIPS et sur l’évolution du système de propriété intellectuelle et les capacités de développement. Les effets d’un renforcement des droits de brevets sur les transferts de technologies sont abordés.

Intellectual property: A strong determinant of economic growth

The returns from almost all human endeavors can ultimately be translated into monetary gains. The past few years have seen increased attention paid to the strengthening of intellectual property rights due to globalization. The development of Intellectual property rights (IPR) over the years has invariably brought an upsurge in the outlook of nations toward the aspect of societal and cultural growth, this being said with the preliminary assumption that economic growth has been the most affected realm and that it requires a separate spectrum of analysis. The artifacts between the IP regime and the national economy can be easily interpreted by the fact that India's independence had itself brought an era where the enactment of the national IP laws were considered to stand on the touchstone of the market economy. The aim of the present article is to investigate the impact of a strong IP regime on the economic development of a nation and also a light is raised into Indian economy, and the creation of an efficient innovative system is discussed. A strong relation of the IPR with the pharma and biotech sectors has been discussed. Undoubtedly, the Intellectual property (IP) systems must be developed so as to bring in socioeconomic well-being. The fact that a strong IPR actually provokes IPR infringements in many developing nations also seems to be an issue that needs to be analyzed while understanding the need of the former. The trade-off between unfair competition laws and IP also assumes importance of high magnitude and hence needs to be particularly emphasized. With the growing recognition of IPR, the importance of worldwide forums on IPR has been realized. Companies, universities, and industries want to protect their IPR internationally. In order to reach this goal, countries have signed numerous agreements and treaties.

TRIPS post-2005 and access to new antiretroviral treatments in southern countries: issues and challenges

Until 2005 some developing countries with pharmaceutical manufacturing capacities especially India used the transitional period allowing local manufacturers to produce and sell generic versions of first-generation ART drugs patented in industrialized countries and originally produced and sold at high prices by Western pharmaceutical companies. Thanks to international competition between generic manufacturers and these companies significant price reductions were achieved for the large majority of these drugs. This was a key factor in the implementation and strengthening of access to AIDS treatment in developing countries and a strategic element in the World Health Organization (WHO) 3by5 plan. However with the end of the extended deadline for TRIPS compliance the scenario is likely to change radically. Considering the end of the transitional period which effectively will prohibit the free manufacture of newer and innovative antiretroviral generations to mark a key episode in the history of the fight against AIDS in developing countries this review will provide an overview of the meaning and consequences of this turning point and to present some of the new challenges of the post-2005 period. (excerpt)