Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy - Softcover

Maskus, Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0881322822 ISBN 13: 9780881322828

Publisher: Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2000

Synopsis

Over the past 15 years, intellectual property rights (IPRs)-patents, copyrights, and trademarks-have moved from an arcane area of legal analysis and a policy backwater to the forefront of global economic policymaking. In the 1990s dozens of countries unilaterally strengthened their laws and regulations in this area, and many others are poised to do likewise. At the multilateral level, the successful conclusion of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in the World Trade Organization elevates the protection and enforcement of IPRs to the level of solemn international commitment.

The new global IPR system comes with both benefits and costs. Stronger IPRs protection should increase incentives for innovation and raise returns to international technology transfer. However, it also could raise the costs of acquiring new technology and products, shifting the global terms of trade in favor of technology producers and against technology consumers. In this context, the new regime raises international economic policy questions that evoke impassioned and exaggerated claims from both advocates and opponents of IPRs, particularly concerning sensitive issues such as patent protection of pharmaceuticals and biotechnological inventions, and copyright protection for internet transactions.

In the first comprehensive economic assessment of the effects of stronger international IPRs, Keith E. Maskus examines these competing claims through an analysis of the economic effects of extended international protection and partial harmonization of IPRs. He presents findings on the potential effects of stronger global IPRs, including likely impacts on foreign direct investment, technology transfer, and pricing under enhanced market power. The results bear directly on several important policy questions, including the construction of complementary initiatives on market liberalization and competition rules, and Maskus discusses whether priority attention should be devoted to them in the upcoming next round of global trade talks.

About this title

About the Author

Keith E. Maskus, visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, is professor of economics and associate dean for social sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is also a fellow at the Kiel Institute for World Economics and an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide. He is author of Private Rights and Public Problems: The Global Economics of Intellectual Property in the 21st Century (2012).

From the Back Cover

Over the past 15 years, intellectual property rights (IPRs) have moved from an arcane area of legal analysis and a policy backwater to the forefront of global economic policymaking. In the 1990s dozens of countries unilaterally strengthened their laws and regulations in this area, and many others are poised to do likewise. At the multilateral level, the successful conclusion of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) elevates the protection and enforcement of IPRs to the level of inviolable international commitment.

The new global system emerging from IPRs comes with benefits as well as costs. Their increasing importance raises international economic policy questions that evoke impassioned and exaggerated claims from both advocates and opponents of stronger property rights in information. In the first economic assessment of the effects of stronger international IPRs in one volume, Keith E. Maskus examines these competing claims through a comprehensive analysis of the economic impacts of extended international protection and partial harmonization of IPRs. He brings together recent studies of various aspects of the issue and performs new quantitative and qualitative analyses. He presents findings that will be applied to a number of important policy questions on the very new phenomenon of IPRs.

Edition details

• Publisher: Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0881322822
• ISBN 13: 9780881322828
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296