TOWARDS A PRO-DEVELOPMENT AND BALANCED

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGIME

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Ministerial Conference on Intellectual Property for Least Developed Countries

Seoul, October 25, 2004

Joseph E. StiglitzColumbia University and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue

THE GOAL

1. TO ENSURE THAT THE WORLD’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGIME PROMOTES DEVELOPMENT

2. TO IMPLEMENT THE DECISION MADE AT WIPO GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN GENEVA ON OCTOBER 4

3. TO ESTABLISH A DEVELOPMENT AGENDA FOR WIPO

Knowledge and development

• WHAT SEPARATES DEVELOPED AND LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES IS NOT JUST A GAP IN RESOURCES– A VIEW PREVALENT IN THE DECADES FOLLOWING WORLD

WAR II– MOTIVATED THE CREATION OF THE WORLD BANK

• BUT A GAP IN KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY– Important not just for increasing GDP– But for improvement in health and other dimensions of living

standards– Reflected in 1998 WDR ‘Knowledge for Development’

SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT

• NEEDS TO OVERCOME THAT GAP– Historically, reverse engineering, copying, and

compulsory licensing played an important role– Most successful countries developed explicit

strategies to do so

• AND TO DEVELOP TECHNOLOGIES APPROPRIATE FOR THE CONDITIONS OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES– Need to have incentives

The role of intellectual property

Knowledge, however, is not costless.

• Intellectual property provides incentives – Long recognized

• But there are other ways in which knowledge can be created

Intellectual property rights are different from other forms of

property rights • They create a distortion—a (temporary)

monopoly power– Particularly problematic since reward under patent not

directly related to social value of contribution• Evident in bio-piracy (patents on traditional knowledge)• Social value related to knowledge being available earlier than

otherwise– Social costs of distortion especially high in the case of

life-saving drugs• Ordinarily, property rights are argued for as a

means of achieving economic efficiency – Intellectual property rights, by contrast, result in a

static inefficiency, justified by the dynamic incentives

Knowledge as a public good

• fundamental problem is that knowledge is a public good – In fact, it’s a global public good

• no marginal cost associated with use• intellectual property circumscribes its use and thus

necessarily causes an inefficiency• Key policy issue--Balancing static inefficiencies and

dynamic gains– unbalanced intellectual property regime—say with an

excessively long patent life—leads to overall inefficiency – In TRIPS agreement careful balancing was totally missing.

• The argument was essentially, the stronger the intellectual property rights, the better

• But this is wrong.

Assessing costs• Not just loss of static efficiency

– But static efficiency is important– Patents used to create cartels (automobile)

• Losses of lives• Losses of dynamic efficiency

– Knowledge is the most important input into the production of knowledge• Especially of concern when patents involve ‘enclosing the commons’• Intellectual property rights restrict access to knowledge

– Incentives for innovation with monopoly less than in more competitive market place

– Patent conflict can impede innovation• Development of the commercial airplane

– Much of R &D activity directed at circumventing or strengthening monopoly

• Not at creating new products and lowering costs which enhance welfare

Does stronger intellectual property protection promote faster

innovation?No, if ‘too’ unbalanced• Intellectual property only one of several mechanisms for providing

incentives and supporting research– Trade secrets– First mover advantage– Public support

• Most knowledge creation not protected or protectable by intellectual property rights– Basic mathematical insights– Open source movement– Especially true of much of knowledge which is relevant for development

• Which products will work well in this environment• What products are demanded in market

BALANCE• ALL PROPERTY RIGHTS ARE ‘CIRCUMSCRIBED’ IN INTERESTS OF

PUBLIC GOOD– Endangered species act– Zoning– Represent ‘balancing’

• ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS– Compulsory licensing– Restrictions arising from concerns about excessive monopolization

• Monopolies are restricted in their right to engage in discriminatory pricing• And in leveraging monopoly in one area into another

– Inevitable because one has to decide on standards• What is protectable

– Business practices, genes • Scope• Novelty standards

– To increase likelihood of dynamic benefits traditionally has been a disclosure requirement

• In recent cases, there has been an attempt to suppress disclosure

Alternative Ways of Funding and Producing

There exists alternatives

• Government financed research

• Research produced by government laboratories and universities– Large fraction of most important innovations

IPR IS AN INEFFICIENT WAY OF PROVIDING FINANCE

• REVENUES FOR RESEARCH PROVIDED BY MONOPOLY PROFITS– DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRICE AND

MARGINAL COST CAN BE VIEWED AS A ‘TAX’

– ONE DESIRABLE PROPERTY: ‘BENEFIT TAX’

– BUT IN MOST OTHER ARENAS, ONLY LIMITED RELIANCE ON BENEFIT TAXES

• INEFFICIENCY AND INEQUALITY

INEQUITIES ASSOCIATED WITH IPR

• KNOWLEDGE AS A GLOBAL PUBLIC GOOD

• SHOULD BE FINANCED BY THOSE MOST ABLE TO PAY

• IPR DOES NOT RECOGNIZE DIFFERENCES IN CIRCUMSTANCES—OTHER THAN EXTENT TO WHICH PROFITS CAN BE EXTRACTED

IPR AND TRIPS

• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN URUGUAY ROUND– NOT REALLY TRADE ISSUE– AND IN FACT SOME ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS ACTUAL

RESTRICT TRADE• E.G. ON COMPULSORY LICENSING

• MOREOVER TRADE MINISTERS NOT APPROPRIATE FORUM FOR ‘BALANCING’ WHICH IS AT CENTER OF AN EFFICIENT AND EQUITABLE IPR REGIME– LET ALONE ONE WHICH IS PRO-DEVELOPMENT– EVIDENCED BY THE FAILURES OF DOHA

• DEVELOPMENT ROUND NOT TRUE DEVELOPMENT ROUND—IPD/COMMONWEALTH REPORT

• AND EVEN RENEGED ON PROMISE OF DOHA

LEGAL SYSTEM CAN LEAD TO UNFAIR OUTCOMES

• HIGH COSTS OF IMPLEMENTING IPR• INCLUDING HIGH COSTS OF CHALLENGING

PATENTS– PUTS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AT A

DISADVANTAGE– EXACERBATING RISKS OF BIO-PIRACY

• PRESSURE NOT TO ISSUE COMPULSORY LICENSES AND TO HAVE STRONG IPR REGIMES REINFORCED BY INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS AND ‘MARKET’

TOWARDS AN IPR REGIME WHICH PROMOTES

DEVELOPMENT• It is in the interests of the international

community to have an IPR regime which promotes development and the well being of those in the developing world– It is necessary to do so if the divide between the

developed and less developed countries is to be reduced

– And if the aspirations reflected in the millennium development goals are to be achieved

• This will require revision of TRIPs• And that WIPO take on a greater role in defining

the appropriate IPR regime

TOWARDS AN IPR REGIME WHICH PROMOTES

DEVELOPMENT• IPR is a means, not an end in itself• The IPR regime which is appropriate for the most advanced

industrial countries will be different from that which is appropriate for developing world– Nature of ‘balance’ will be different

• Dictum that the stronger IPR rights the better is never true• But weighing costs and benefits is especially important for developing

countries– Must be careful about single standards

• What is rationale behind ‘single standard’? Is there a need?• Consistent with “conservative principle” of Commonwealth Report on a “True

Development Round”– Recognizing the asymmetries in bargaining– Reflected so strongly in Uruguay Round

– Especially when the standards reflect those of special interests in advanced industrial countries

• As was the case in TRIPs

TOWARDS AN IPR REGIME WHICH PROMOTES

DEVELOPMENT• Will be relevant in determining every aspect

of IPR regime– Scope– What can be patented– Standards for novelty– Exceptions and limitations

TOWARDS AN IPR REGIME WHICH PROMOTES

DEVELOPMENT• Importance in ensuring effective competition

– Greater risk in smaller developing countries• Importance of ensuring access to life-saving medicines• Importance of ensuring the transfer of technology• Importance of ensuring protection of traditional knowledge

– Recognizing special problems in creating patents – And the dangers of ‘fencing in the commons’

• Importance of the need for impartial technical assistance, financial assistance in creating an appropriate IPR regime within each country and in establishing any international standards

• And legal assistance (financial and technical) to challenge patent applications and to obtain patents in more advanced industrial countries– Without which, de jure there cannot be fairness

TOWARDS AN IPR REGIME WHICH PROMOTES

DEVELOPMENT• A NEW LENS THROUGH WHICH TO APPRAISE

EVERY ASPECT OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGIME

• NEED TO HAVE GREATER VOICE TO THE CONCERNS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD

• A MATTER OF BOTH EFFICIENCY AND EQUITY• UNLESS THIS IS DONE, THERE IS THE PROSPECT

OF AN EVER INCREASING GULF BETWEEN THE DEVELOPED AND LESS DEVELOPED WORLD—– Between the owners of intellectual property– And the users