Test Tubes for Global Intellectual Property Issues

de Susy Frankel

"From both a theoretical and a practical perspective, this book is an important resource. Ever since the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (the TRIPS Agreement) set out minimum standards of intellectual property protection for members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), considerable attention has focused on the wisdom of moving toward a system that is more deeply harmonized and that mandates the recognition of even stronger rights. For the most part, the debate centers on questions of technological development. To many, countries that are behind the technology curve gain little from strong protection, even when it is offset by market access for their own products. The products developing countries sell (raw commodities, manufactures) are priced competitively and therefore earn rather scant returns, while the "knowledge products" developing countries must buy (pharmaceuticals, manufacturing equipment, educational materials) are patented, copyrighted, and trademarked - and priced well above marginal cost. International obligations to impose high standards of intellectual property protection can therefore cause considerable injustice, for these rights siphon funds from poor countries to rich ones"--