Intellectual Property Rights and LDCs-Some Strategic Issues

Intellectual Property Rights and LDCs Some Strategic Issues Deepak Nayyar It is essential to ensure rewards for innovation but, surely, the protection of monopoly profits or quasi-rents for transnational corporations should not take precedence over the interests of national development in a world characterised by uneven development. The proposed agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, about to be concluded as part of the Uruguay Round, ignores this vital consideration. The interests of the industrialised countries are the focus of attention, while the interests of the developing countries are the object of neglect.