The patent-antitrust interface in developing countries

Abstract

The central thesis of this book chapter is that developing countries need to take different approaches to the patent-antitrust interface. This is particularly true in light of the stringent intellectual property protections mandated by the TRIPS Agreement, which has been observed to have resulted in a significant wealth transfer from developing country consumers to multinational corporations. Not only should the approaches be different from that of the industrialized economies, developing countries should not be treated as a monolith as far as the patent-antitrust interface is concerned. In light of their differences in terms of stages of economic development, per capita income, and technological capacity, there is no single approach to the interface that suits all of them. Developing countries must be distinguished on one basis or another to reflect these differences. In fact, a country-specific approach may still be too crude.