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Castle, David --- "Introduction" [2009] ELECD 478; in Castle, David (ed), "The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Biotechnology Innovation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Biotechnology Innovation

Editor(s): Castle, David

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847209801

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Castle, David

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

Introduction
David Castle

WHY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN
BIOTECHNOLOGY INNOVATION?

Intellectual property rights feature prominently in all innovation systems,
yet characterizing their role is a difficult task, one that always fosters
debate. Intellectual property rights (IPRs), particularly in the form of
patent rights, are widely viewed as catalysts for innovation in high-value,
knowledge-intensive sectors like biotechnology because they reward risk-
taking innovative behaviour while providing public access to invention
disclosures. Some challenge this incentive­access paradigm, claiming that
IPRs' principal function is to coordinate actors in innovation systems.
Others are sceptical about IPRs' capacity to stimulate innovation, and
point to cases in which IPRs act as impediments to innovation by setting
a high entry barrier to an innovation system, generating patent thickets,
creating anti-commons or leading to defensive or blocking behaviour.
Moreover, differences of opinion about the correct description of the role
of IPRs in innovation systems are typically aggravated when the discus-
sion migrates from descriptive to normative issues. Heated disagreement
dominates discussions regarding the design and reform of intellectual
property systems, the rules, institutions and practices they support, and
the conditions under which regional and national innovation systems
thrive.
At least four problems stand in the way of having a complete under-
standing of the role of IPRs in innovation systems. The first is that
`innovation system' is a term of art the meaning of which is often derived
from the context in which the term is being used. Freeman, who coined
the term, described ...