"TRIPS" in Trouble: Half of Developing and Developed Countries Non-Compliant
Contact:
Owen Lippert, Law & Markets Project,
The Fraser Institute, Tel. (613) 565-0468 Cel. (613) 290-1016
Email: owenl@fraserinstitute.caRelease Date: 2 December 1999
VANCOUVER, BC>>> With just 29 days until the January 1, 2000 deadline, a new survey by Canadian and US public policy organisations suggests that at least half of developing countries may fail to implement the Intellectual Property Protection (IPP) reforms they committed to as signatories of the WTO's 1995 TRIPS Agreement (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). Tear gas and demonstrators should not divert WTO nations from advancing the cause of global free trade and committing to the importance of intellectual property rights.
Owen Lippert, Director of the Law & Markets Project at Vancouver's Fraser Institute says, "Critics claim that TRIPS hurts developing countries and helps multinational companies. They're wrong. TRIPS does help some companies, but more importantly it provides real hope for Indian scientists, Brazilian and Argentine agricultural researchers, and African musicians that they can profit from their talent and invention without having to move to Silicon Valley, Miami or Paris."
Researchers from The Fraser Institute (Canada) and the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute (USA) surveyed 5 recent government and industry assessments of the intellectual property laws in the 135 WTO signatory countries. They found that 34 of the 76 developing countries have yet to pass all the necessary laws to protect patents, copyrights and trademarks.
"Small wonder we are seeing several developing countries in Seattle trying to persuade other WTO members to extend the TRIPS deadline," states Lippert. Nations classed as "Least Developed Countries" have until January 1, 2005 to comply.
In addition, 50 percent of 24 developed countries may not be in full compliance with their TRIPS obligations.
Lippert added, "Given our dependence on rule-based international trade I'm particularly disappointed to see that Canada is probably in violation of the TRIPS agreement. Canada's compliance with TRIPS has been challenged as both the European union and the US have actions against Canada's intellectual property laws currently before the WTO."
"I do congratulate Minister of International Trade, Pierre Pettigrew, for being selected as chair of the WTO committee on implementation. However, his credibility as committee chair will depend on Canada, itself, complying with TRIPS," says Lippert.
"In addition, the countries who have already passed their TRIPS legislation should resist any effort by non-compliant countries to delay or cancel their international obligations," said Margalit Edelman, Research Fellow, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute.
Edelman elaborated on the troubling situation in Latin America. "The region has such promise for growing indigenous knowledge-based industries. It will benefit significantly from TRIPS." Her detailed analysis of the state of IPP laws in Latin America is available at http://www.adti.net.
Lippert and Edelman called upon the US and European governments to send a strong message. "TRIPS must be implemented on time, not just for the benefit of existing companies, but for all the new ones which can emerge from developing countries to take advantage of the technological revolution of the 21st Century," they argue.
Organisations surveyed included:
- The Transatlantic Business Dialogue, November 1998 Annex on Intellectual Property;
- The Business Software Alliance;
- PHARMA (The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of America);
- The US Trade Representative, 1998 Special 301 Report, and
- The WTO Dispute Resolution record.
For further information on intellectual property and TRIPS, The Fraser Institute will be releasing a new book Competitive Strategies for the Protection of Intellectual Property in January 2000
Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver.
For further information contact:
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The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582,
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca
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