Innovation

Research Paper 23, June 2009

Developing Biotechnology Innovations Through Traditional Knowledge.

This paper suggests that by using biotechnology, traditional knowledge holders may obtain economic gain, through innovation and research and development based on the traditional knowledge. It also explores what are the obstacles in the development of biotechnology-based traditional knowledge innovation. (more…)

Research Paper 18, December 2008

Patent Counts as Indicators of the Geography of Innovation Activities: Problem and Perspectives.

This Research Paper challenges the conceptual basis of patent counts being relied upon as indicators of innovation for assessing cross-country performance and for the purposes of understanding the geography of innovation in a particular location. (more…)

Policy Brief 13, Febuary 2008

Implementing the WIPO Development Agenda: Next Steps Forward.

WIPO Member States agreed to a new agenda to guide the organizations work on development and intellectual property (IP). The challenge now is to effectively implement the agenda to achieve concrete results and change. (more…)

Policy Brief 6, March 2007

Development and Intellectual Property under the EPA Negotiations.

The negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the African Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP) are likely to result in additional layers of intellectual property right protection, at least in the case of the agreement with Cariforum countries. (more…)

Analytical Note, October 2005

The Agenda for Transfer of Technology: the Working Group of the WTO on Trade and Transfer of Technology.

Technology transfer is a mechanism for the shifting of information across borders and its effective diffusion into recipient economies, thus involving numerous complex processes, ranging from innovation and international marketing of technology to its absorption and imitation. (more…)

Book by the South Centre, 2000

Integrating Public Health Concerns into Patent Legislation in Developing Countries

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires all WTO Member countries to adapt their laws to the minimum standards set out in the Agreement, within established transitional periods. Conforming with the Agreement by recognizing or strengthening the protection of pharmaceutical products and processes by intellectual property rights (IPRs) has posed a special challenge for developing countries. The way in which the required legislative reform is made may have a significant impact on public health policies, and particularly on the population’s access to drugs.

This document presents options for the design and implementation of public-health-sensitive patent policies in developing countries. It examines approaches to selected issues in patent law that may help to strike a balance between the public and private interests involved in the protection of health-related inventions, including those of States, patients, and of the suppliers of health-related goods and services. This document has been prepared as part of an initiative aimed at exploring health-related aspects of intellectual property rights that may further the needs of the poor and excluded in developing countries. It is primarily addressed to policy makers and others concerned in the field of public health in developing countries.

Integrating Public Health Concerns into Patent Legislation in Developing Countries