Abstract
This chapter explores the relationship between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and development. I argue that any answer to the question of whether the strengthening of these rights stimulates economic development is primarily political. I do so firstly by exploring the political and contested nature of IPRs and secondly the manner in which development and IPRs have been contested historically, especially since the emergence of the ‘developing’ world as a category and, more recently, with the rise of the knowledge economy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
Unlike tangible goods and objects, which can be appropriated individually and thus visibly separated from the commons, knowledge and intellectual products are intangible and not appropriable in this way; once created, knowledge can be used by anybody. Such use is non-rivalrous because the ‘consumption’ of intangible goods would leave the same quantity and quality of such goods to be consumed and enjoyed by others.
- 2.
It must be noted that certain intellectual goods are denied private ownership, such as, for instance, everyday ideas and discoveries of facts or laws found in nature. Note that both categories are susceptible to interpretation.
- 3.
A list of the civil society groups and their Future of WIPO Declaration can be accessed at http://www.futureofwipo.org/ (last accessed on 5 January 2015).
References
Beier, F.-K. 1980. The significance of the patent system for technical, economic and social progress. International Review of Industrial Property 11: 563–584.
Boyle, J. 2003. The second enclosure movement and the construction of the public domain. Law and Contemporary Problems 66: 33–74.
Drahos, P. 1996. A philosophy of intellectual property. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Drahos, P., and J. Braithwaite. 2002. Informational feudalism: Who owns the knowledge economy? London: Earthscan.
Fisk, C. 2003. Authors at work: The origins of the work for hire doctrine. Yale Journal of Law and Humanities 15: 169–258.
Ginarte, J., and W. Park. 1997. Determinants of patent rights: A cross-national study. Research Policy 26: 283–301.
Gould, D., and W. Gruben. 1996. The role of intellectual property rights in economic growth. Journal of Development Economics 48: 323–350.
Kinsella, N.S. 2001. Against intellectual property. Journal of Libertarian Studies 152: 1–53.
Kronstein, H., and I. Till. 1947. A re-evaluation of the international patent convention. Law and Contemporary Problems 12(4): 765–781.
Llal, S. 1976. The patent system and the transfer of technology to less-developed countries. Journal of World Trade Law 10: 1–16.
Matthews, D. 2002. Globalising intellectual property rights: The TRIPs agreement. London and New York: Routledge.
May, C. 2000. A global political economy of intellectual property rights: The new enclosures? London and New York: Routledge.
May, C., and S. Sell. 2006. Intellectual property rights: A critical history. London: Lynne Reinner Publishers.
Menescal, A. 2005. Changing WIPOs ways? The 2004 development agenda in historical perspective. The Journal of World Intellectual Property 86: 761–79.
Okediji, R. 2003. The international relations of intellectual property: Narratives of developing country participation in the global intellectual property system. Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law 7: 315–385.
Okediji, R. 2008. History lessons for the WIPO development agenda. In The development agenda, ed. N. Weinstock, 137–161. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Penrose, E. 1973. The economics of the international patent system. Economic Journal 83(331): 768–786.
Rapp, R., and R. Rozek. 1990. Benefits and costs of intellectual property protection in developing countries. Journal of World Trade 24: 75–102.
Sell, S. 2003. Private power, public law: The globalization of intellectual property rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stiglitz, J. 1999. Knowledge as a global public good. In Global public goods: International cooperation in the 21st century, ed. I. Kaul, I. Grunberg, and M. Stern, 308–325. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ugolini, M.A. 1999. Grey market goods under the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. Transnational Law 12: 451–468.
Vaitsos, C. 1972. Patents revisited: Their function in developing economies. Journal of Development Studies 9(1): 71–97.
Watal, J. 2001. Intellectual property rights in the WTO and developing countries. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
WIPO. 2007. The 45 adopted recommendations under the WIPO development agenda, general assembly, Sept 2007. Available at http://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/agenda/recommendations.html. Accessed 25 July 2014.
Yu, P. 2009. A tale of two development agendas. Ohio Northern University Law Review 35: 465–573.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Muzaka, V. (2016). Intellectual Property Rights and Development: A Contingent Political Relationship. In: Grugel, J., Hammett, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of International Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-42724-3_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-42724-3_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-42723-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-42724-3
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)