Intellectual Property Rights and the TRIPS Agreement : An Overview of Ethical Problems and Some Proposed Solutions
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights negotiated in 1986 under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the institutional predecessor of the World Trade Organization, incorporated substantial and...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20100302132412 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3714 |
| Summary: | The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights negotiated in 1986 under the
auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the
institutional predecessor of the World Trade Organization,
incorporated substantial and uniform protections of
intellectual property rights into the international trade
system. A large body of contemporary academic literature
suggests that intellectual property rights on socially
valuable goods such as essential medicines give rise to a
number of ethical problems. This review paper seeks to give
an overview of these problems. Moreover, it offers an
outline and discussion of a number of proposals as to how
these problems might be alleviated. The paper is primarily
descriptive in character. This means that although a
personal perspective is sometimes offered, the primary
ambition of the paper is not to argue for, and defend, a
particular solution to the issues discussed. The aim is
rather to highlight, explain and put into perspective a
number of important arguments in the debate on the ethical
nature of intellectual property rights so that policy-makers
and other stakeholders are relatively well-equipped to make
up their own mind on the issue. |
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