Towards a New Global Intellectual Property System: the Threats to and Opportunities for IP Development in BRICS Countries
On April 2nd, Laboratory Head Alexey Ivanov delivered a report at the international theoretical and practical conference 'Economic Cooperation of BRICS Countries as the Basis for a Multipolar World', organised by the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies.
As an epigraph to his speech, Ivanov chose to quote Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz: "Globalisation is one the most important questions of the day, and intellectual property is one of the most important areas of globalisation, especially since the world is moving towards a knowledge economy. How we regulate and manage the creation of and access to knowledge is central to the successful functioning of the new economy". Alexey pointed out that intellectual property is a powerful tool of global economic leadership in the knowledge economy. According to the World Bank, about 80% of the world's wealth is now accounted for by intangible things; different formats of information and knowledge.
The institute of intellectual property deals with a fundamental paradox: on the one hand it protects the ideas of the inventors, thus helping them to commercialise their developments, yet on the other hand innovation can be stifled by limitations of and access to information and insight.
The current intellectual property system is stacked in the favour of countries that export IP. It is certainly the more developed western countries and transnational corporations that hoard IP and therefore it is they that have a vested interest in maintaining the global status quo. Indeed, the current system of intellectual property protection works in such a way that the orbit of technological development is kept tied-to-the-hip with western capital. The major western companies are interested in the preservation of technological global leadership and as such engage in rent-seeking practices due to the accumulated mass of inventions originating in the west. Undoubtedly, the current regulatory environment stands to be modernised in favour of emerging markets, in particular the countries of the BRICS group.
The institute of intellectual property deals with a fundamental paradox: on the one hand it protects the ideas of the inventors, thus helping them to commercialise their developments, yet on the other hand innovation can be stifled by limitations of and access to information and insight.
The current intellectual property system is stacked in the favour of countries that export IP. It is certainly the more developed western countries and transnational corporations that hoard IP and therefore it is they that have a vested interest in maintaining the global status quo. Indeed, the current system of intellectual property protection works in such a way that the orbit of technological development is kept tied-to-the-hip with western capital. The major western companies are interested in the preservation of technological global leadership and as such engage in rent-seeking practices due to the accumulated mass of inventions originating in the west. Undoubtedly, the current regulatory environment stands to be modernised in favour of emerging markets, in particular the countries of the BRICS group.
Date
2 April
2015
Keywords