Vikram
TRIPS and its impact on developing countries
Graham Dutfield
A contentious agreement
Of all the agreements administered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is undoubtedly the most controversial with respect to its development-related impacts. The agreement requires all WTO member states to establish minimum standards of legal protection and enforcement for a number of different forms of intellectual property rights (IPRs).
Many developing countries hold that the TRIPS agreement — which came into force in 1995 — is unbalanced in that it favours developed countries and transnational corporations, and at the same time is unhelpful or even harmful to their own interests. In addition, concerns have been raised about the moves to ensure that developing countries accept higher standards of intellectual property protection than the WTO requires, even before they have determined how best to implement the TRIPS agreement in ways that support economic development and poverty alleviation.
Non-governmental organisations have criticised TRIPS on the grounds that it imposes various costs on developing countries — such as more expensive drugs, agricultural inputs and foreign-owned technologies — without producing sufficient longer-term gains in areas like trade and investment. Developed countries tend to counter that strong IPR protection will attract investment to developing countries and stimulate local innovation and creativity. In this way, they say, the poorer countries have nothing to fear from TRIPS.
The development of TRIPS
The rights covered by TRIPS include copyright and related rights; trademarks; geographical indications; industrial designs; patents; layout-designs of integrated circuits; protection of undisclosed information (trade secrets); and control of anti-competitive practices in contractual licences.
The standards of protection and enforcement required of WTO member
Graham Dutfield
A contentious agreement
Of all the agreements administered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is undoubtedly the most controversial with respect to its development-related impacts. The agreement requires all WTO member states to establish minimum standards of legal protection and enforcement for a number of different forms of intellectual property rights (IPRs).
Many developing countries hold that the TRIPS agreement — which came into force in 1995 — is unbalanced in that it favours developed countries and transnational corporations, and at the same time is unhelpful or even harmful to their own interests. In addition, concerns have been raised about the moves to ensure that developing countries accept higher standards of intellectual property protection than the WTO requires, even before they have determined how best to implement the TRIPS agreement in ways that support economic development and poverty alleviation.
Non-governmental organisations have criticised TRIPS on the grounds that it imposes various costs on developing countries — such as more expensive drugs, agricultural inputs and foreign-owned technologies — without producing sufficient longer-term gains in areas like trade and investment. Developed countries tend to counter that strong IPR protection will attract investment to developing countries and stimulate local innovation and creativity. In this way, they say, the poorer countries have nothing to fear from TRIPS.
The development of TRIPS
The rights covered by TRIPS include copyright and related rights; trademarks; geographical indications; industrial designs; patents; layout-designs of integrated circuits; protection of undisclosed information (trade secrets); and control of anti-competitive practices in contractual licences.
The standards of protection and enforcement required of WTO member