Abstract: Many developing countries, including certainly the poorest economies, do not adequately protect intellectual property rights (IPR). While laws and regulations may offer comprehensive protection on paper, the ability and willingness of governments to enforce patents, copyrights, plant variety rights and trademarks are almost completely absent. In part this situation reflects simple political economy: the vast majority of firms who own IPR in poor countries are foreign. The problem also reflects the strategic view that weak IPR may help governments gain cheap access to, say, patented medicines and assist domestic firms to imitate international technologies without paying license fees.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-12-22
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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