Patent Protection in the Global Trading System and Industrialization of Developing Countries

With the protection of intellectual property rights through the Uruguay Round trade negotiations, the developed countries were able to enjoy the rents paid by the developing countries, and the ability of the developing countries to catch up through imitation and industrialization became quite limited. The Trade-Related Intellectual Properties (TRIPS) Agreement of the WTO system could be evaluated as biased in favor of the developed countries. The patent protection in the TRIPS Agreement includes a few special and differential treatment (SDT) provisions intended to benefit the developing countries. Such SDT provisions provided to the developing countries could be justified from the viewpoint of distributional fairness in the world economy, which pursues the maximization of the benefits received by the least advantaged under the veil of ignorance. Because patent protection may affect the industrialization-led economic development of developing countries, it is necessary to suggest ways to modify the WTO's patent regime. It is essential to start by reaffirming the policy space provided in it. It is necessary to allow benefits to lower middle income developing countries and for the WTO system to include a provision related to compulsory licensing, which supports the industrialization and economic development of developing countries.