Private rights and public problems : the global economics of intellectual property in the 21st century / Keith Maskus.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Print version record.

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. Apple and Samsung's patent battle illustrates the importance of IPRs and how they impact everyone. Private Rights and Public Problems is a completed update of the seminal, oft-cited 2000 study, Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy. This new book documents the remarkable global changes in IPRs policies that have taken place since the founding of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and analyzes both the benefits and costs of the global IPRs system. Does stronger IPRs protection increase incentives for innovation and raise returns to international technology transfer or does it raise the cost of acquiring new technology and products? Have the changes benefited technology producers or technology consumers? Do these policies help or hinder the transfer of key technologies used to address critical global public needs, such as essential medicines, green technologies, bio-engineered seed varieties, products made from genetic resources, and scientific and educational materials? The book examines these issues through an analysis of the economic effects of extended international protection and partial harmonization of IPRs. Ultimately, it argues that the global IPRs system stands at a fundamental crossroad, facing more challenges than ever before. It makes several suggestions for improving the efficiency and fairness of the newly globalized system in the near future, if the political will can be found.

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Ch 1. Introduction: The Big Stakes in Selling Knowledge -- The Ever-Elusive Balance -- The Policy Landscape -- Four Ideas to Improve the Global System Today -- Organization of the Book -- Ch 2. The Big Global Upgrade: Is It Working? -- How the Situation Has Changed -- Intellectual Property Right Reforms and Innovation -- Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer -- Country Experiences and “Catching Up� with Intellectual Property Rights -- Summary -- Ch 3. Global Governance

TRIPS Finishes Its Test RideThe World Intellectual Property Organization Does Its Part -- When TRIPS Is Not Enough -- A Powerful Pushback -- The New Enforcement Emphasis -- Summary -- Ch 4. Regulating a Stressed System -- Cleanup in Aisle Global Patent -- The Standards Question -- Exhaustion: Your Price or Mine? -- Geography Made Delicious -- Digital Dilemmas -- Enforcement Economics -- Summary -- Ch 5. Intellectual Property Rights and Global Policy Challenges -- Intellectual Property Rights, Policy Space, and Development

Patent Problems and Progress in Public HealthTechnology Transfer and Climate Change -- Agriculture and Genetic Resources -- Trading in Traditions -- Summary -- Ch 6. Revitalizing a Tired System -- Pressures to Move On -- Extending the Long and Strained TRIPS? -- Reaching for Balance beyond the World Trade Organization -- Future Vision -- A Final Observation -- References -- Index

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