ABSTRACT

In spite of substantial economic growth of nations, there still persist conflicting views among developed and developing countries for retaining a strong intellectual property regime in their municipal laws. For instance, the debate on competition laws and feasibility of having monopolistic tendencies as emphasized by the jurisprudence of IP laws still appears to haunt the think-tank of developing nations like India. The fact that developing countries vary widely in the  quality and capacity of their scientific and technical infrastructures, poses a major hurdle to the extent of applicability of IP, particularly, patent laws. Having a uniform IP standard across the globe undoubtedly seems to be an idealistic situation, but the issue certainly involves numerous micro and macro considerations which needs to be considered.

The aim of the present paper is to analyze   the impact of a strong IP regime on  the economic development of a nation. As is well understood,   IP protection is an important determinant of economic growth. It helps entrepreneurs to recover costs of their innovative expenses. Undoubtedly, IP systems must be developed so as to bring in socio-economic well-being of the people. However, the incentives for the same needs to be analyzed critically considering the conflicting views of various stakeholders at the WTO platform.

 Having strong IPR actually provoke IPR infringements in many developing nations also seems to be a serious issue which needs to be considered while comprehending the need for the strong IPR regime. The trade -off between unfair competition laws and IP also assumes importance of high magnitude and hence needs to be debated.

Keywords: Intellectual property, traditional knowledge, geographical indications, economic growth, competition act