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Key Documents archive results 1-20 of 28 in Intellectual property
How Developing Countries Can Manage Intellectual Property Rights to Maximise Access to Knowledge
This book, published by the intergovernmental organisation South Centre, presents a collection of articles on intellectual property (IP) restrictions and access to knowledge for developing countries. An outcome of the South Centre Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme, the book responds to...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: February 2009 | EN
The technology transfer debate in the UNFCCC: Politics, patents and confusion
This discussion paper from the South Centre and Center for International Environmental Law, discusses the international transfer of environmentally sound technologies within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The authors present an overview of the UNFCCC's structure for...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
Patent counts as indicators of the geography of innovation activities: Problems and perspectives
This paper challenges the idea that patent counts provide reliable indicators of innovation in cross-country assessments. The authors argue that national differences in patent systems -- how and why patents are granted and standards of examination -- make comparisons across countries difficult at...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: December 2008 | EN
Trade and Health
This series of commentaries and papers, published by The Lancet, examines the challenges to achieving a balance between trade and health. It includes analyses of the WHO and World Trade Organisation (WTO), arguing that they facilitate trade before the health of poor people. Other authors...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2009 | EN
Invention and transfer of climate change mitigation technologies on a global scale: A study drawing on patent data
This report, published by Centre d'Économie Industrielle (CERNA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), examines the distribution of climate mitigation inventions since 1973 and their international transfer. Based on an analysis of patent data, the authors find...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
Innovation and technology transfer: Framework for a global climate deal
This report, published by E3G and Chatham House proposes an institutional framework for the innovation and transfer of low carbon and adaptation technologies, and suggests key features for the international agreement due to be signed at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: November 2008 | EN
Is Bayh-Dole good for developing countries? Lessons from the US experience
This article examines the US Bayh-Dole (BD) Act -- a 1980s measure that sought to stimulate science-based economic growth by encouraging universities to patent inventions resulting from government-funded research -- and assesses its suitability for developing countries. The authors look at how...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: October 2008 | EN
Helping poor people to earn from their knowledge
In this paper, World Bank researcher Michael Finger summarises a collection of case studies from his book of the same title (Helping poor people to earn from their knowledge, Oxford University Press 2003). The case studies are built on examples of how poor people in developing countries use skills,...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2003 | EN
Defining an intellectual property right on traditional medicinal knowledge: a process-oriented perspective
In this paper - which is targeted at national-level policy makers - the author explores the complex issue of traditional knowledge protection, and deems its protection to be necessary on utilitarian grounds. The author argues that attempts to define traditional knowledge (TK) should focus on...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: July 2003 | EN
AAAS Handbook on Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge
Realising that traditional knowledge holders stand outside the fold of intellectual property rights and are most often negatively affected by them, the AAAS has created a handbook that attempts to make intellectual property issues and protection options more understandable and readily available for...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: July 2003 | EN
Intellectual Property Rights and the TRIPS Agreement
As well as providing the full texthttp://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/27-trips_01_e.htm of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, the WTO website also offers: a basic introductionhttp://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/agrm6_e.htm to the...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
Fatal side effects: medicine patents under the microscope
This report was produced by the Policy Department of Oxfam (Great Britain) as part of its RCut the Cost of MedicinesS Campaign. Oxfam argues that governments must amend global patent rules to ensure that impoverished people have access to the medicines at prices they can afford. The report gives...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: February 2001 | EN
Intellectual property rights: ultimate control of agricultural research and development in Asia
This report argues that agricultural research and development is at a crossroads -- one path leads to the privatisation of agriculture and the other towards farmer-led agriculture. It claims that intellectual property rights (IPR) are incompatible with sustainable agriculture, and warns that sui...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: March 2001 | EN
Integrating public health concerns into patent legislation in developing countries
This is an in-depth report that intends to assist developing countries in their efforts to adapt their laws to the standards set by TRIPS in relation to pharmaceutical products and processes. The author presents options for the design and implementation of public-health-sensitive patent policies...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: October 2000 | EN
Fatal imbalance: the crisis in research and development for drugs for neglected diseases
"Fatal imbalance" is the product of MSFSs 'Drugs for Neglected Diseases' Working Group -- a collaboration between scientists, health professionals, drug development experts, international organisations and non-governmental organisations. It concludes that virtually no new drugs are being...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2001 | EN
Integrating intellectual property rights and development policy
The Commission on Intellectual Property Rights is an independent international body that was set up by the British government in 2001 to examine how intellectual property (IP) rights could work better for developing countries. The CommissionSs fundamental task was to consider whether the rules and...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2002 | EN
The TRIPS agreement: a guide for the South
This is an introductory overview of the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement aimed at policy-makers and technical personnel in developing countries. It highlights some of the central issues for the South and gives recommendations to those formulating policy and legislation...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: November 1997 | EN
Compulsory licensing and parallel importing
This background paper describes the basic principles behind two strategies that could be used to bring down the price of drug therapies: parallel importing (bringing drugs from another country) and compulsory licensing (restricting the monopoly rights of existing patent holders to permit generic...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: July 1999 | EN
Exploring the hidden costs of patents
This paper -- based on a talk McDonald (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom) gave at QUNO -- considers the costs and benefits of the patent system. The paper gives examples showing that the costs would seem to be considerable and their distribution as uneven as that of the benefits. Staring...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: May 2001 | EN
TRIPS and development
This background briefing sets out in plain language the development aspects of intellectual property rules, from the UK governmentSs perspective. It describes the controversies surrounding intellectual property, lists the potential costs and benefits, outlines research into the 'appropriate level'...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2001 | EN
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