Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Boadi, Richard Y. --- "The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Biotechnology Innovation: National and International Comparisons" [2009] ELECD 500; 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: Chapter 16

Section Title: The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Biotechnology Innovation: National and International Comparisons

Author(s): Boadi, Richard Y.

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

16. The role of intellectual property
rights in biotechnology innovation:
national and international
comparisons
Richard Y. Boadi

INTRODUCTION

Intellectual property rights (IPRs)1 refer to a category of rights which
confer protection for creations of the human intellect.2 They are a form
of legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of
an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. In general terms this
legal entitlement sometimes enables its holder to exercise exclusive control
over the use of the IPR. IPRs are designed primarily to provide incentives
for innovative behavior; induce investment to develop and commercial-
ize technologies; provide incentive for the disclosure of information; and
facilitate the transfer of technology. Yet, IPRs could serve as a barrier to
innovation, particularly in developing countries, if technologies needed as
research inputs are protected by such IPRs and are not accessible to the
research institutions that develop products specifically for these countries
where farmers constitute approximately 70 per cent of the general popula-
tion and 90 per cent of the agri-food workforce.
For smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, yields of major staple
crops (maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, cowpea, bananas/plantains) have
remained stagnant or even declined in the past 40 years. Numerous biotic
and abiotic stresses have contributed to this dire scenario. Local research
efforts to overcome these stresses are hampered by declining support for
agricultural research, limited access to elite genetic material and other
technologies protected by IPRs, and the absence of commercial interest
in these ...