WIPO’s Contributions to International Cooperation on Intellectual Property

International Protection of Intellectual Property

We study the incentives that governments have to protect intellectual property in a trading world economy. We consider a world economy with ongoing innovation in two countries that differ in market size and in their capacity for innovation. After describing the determination of national patent policies in a noncooperative regime of patent protection, we ask, “Why is intellectual property better...

Intellectual Property Rights and International Technology Diffusion

The TRIPs agreement does not appear likely to alleviate any wealth differences arising from the existing North-South technology divide. Open-economy endogenous growth models suggest a dynamic shift towards further concentration of industrial R&D in the Northern countries. While production of goods developed as an outcome of this R&D may shift to Southern countries through the actions of multina...

Governmental resistance in international intellectual property rights

The International Regulation of Intellectual Property

Abstract: The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) will usher in a markedly stronger global system of defining and protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs). This paper analyses TRIPS as a global regulatory device. It first discusses the concept of intellectual property and the need for its protection and regulation. It presents evidence on the wide variation...

International Entry Effects of Intellectual Property Protection

The negative effects of intellectual property protection (IPP) on trade volume have been found in the literature when market power effects dominate market expansion effects. Because both effects will increase profits, IPP will induce entry without ambiguity. However, using product-level entry data, negative effects on market supply are found after controlling for country-specific effects. An ex...