An independent commission has claimed that the global IP system
fails developing countries.
The UK Commission on Intellectual Property Rights published its
report on September 12. The recommendations prompted aid agencies
to call for a review of the IP regime but also drew qualified
support from WIPO.
The Commission declared that the IP system erects barriers to
many products and technologies that developing countries need.
John Barton, chair of the commission, and Stanford University
law professor George Osborne said: "Developed countries often
proceed on the assumption that what is good for them is likely to
be good for developing countries. But, in the case of developing
countries, more and stronger protection is not necessarily
better."
The report added: "Developing countries should not be encouraged
or coerced into adopting stronger IP rights without regard to the
impact this has on their development and poor people." It called on
WIPO and the WTO to balance...