知识产权保护对中国制药工业的重要性

总部位于瑞士的国际制药商协会联合会对本刊举办的研讨会给予极大的关注。该联合会的国际贸易与市场事务主任埃里克-罗亨伯格专程来北京参加会议，表达国际产业界的观点。     

TRIPS协议下我国软件产业知识产权保护问题研究

TRIPS协议中有关软件知识产权保护的内容是国际软件保护适用最广泛的规则。我国现行相关法律与TRIPS协议在相关权利上、某些权利保护方式以及保护水平上还没有实现充分对接,需要进步修订以适应TRIPS协议相关标准。我国软件企业在发展中必须进一步全面了解TRIPS协议、遵守TRIPS协议相关规定,同时高度关注软件知识产权保护发展的新趋势。     

知识产权保护就是妥协的产物

尽管谈判中遇到了很多的困难，我们只要冷静去思考人类面临的共同问题，就会做出某种妥协     

TRIPS协议亟需修改

对很多发展中国家而言，TRIPS协议的实施所要求的资源和能力超出了其现有实际水平。要允许发展中国家对其人民提供药物方面享有充分的灵活性，而不是限制发展中国家获得药物所采取的措施。     

TRIPS协议语境下传统文化知识产权立法保护问题

国际经贸中的重要国际条约———WTO框架下的 TRIPS协议中,并没有涉及传统文化的知识产权保护.在传统文化的知识产权保护尚未纳入 TRIPS协议之前,发展中国家应当灵活利用 TRIPS协议中的弹性条款以保护本国利益.在 TRIPS协议中保护传统文化的知识产权,应兼顾传统文化来源地与使用者之间的利益平衡,积极运用弹性条款来建立保护传统文化知识产权的立法机制,以此来维护属于我国传统文化国际化的精神利益和经济利益     

TRIPS协议与我国国际贸易中的知识产权保护

多层次全方位的国际经贸活动产生了大量的有关知识产权保护的问题,TRIPS 协议将知识产权纳入 WTO 规则的调整范围,删除和修改我国有关法律中和 TRIPS 不相适应之处,使之更完善,以及努力创造良好的知识产权执法环境已成为当务之急。     

WTO/TRIPS协议与药品获得问题区域研讨会:鼓励仿制药品制造商加强行动

近年来，尤其是在2000年TRIPS协议生效之后．诸如药物疗效、药物安全性等传统问题已经被如何使公众获得药物的问题所取代。在多哈宣言的帮助下，发展中国家现在有必要为促进公共健康而最大限度地利用TRIP5协议的灵活性，鼓励仿制药品制造商强化他们的行动，确保生存并谋求发展．努力扩大基本的和必需的药品生产．并使这些药品的价格降至最低。     

TRIPS框架下我国艾滋病药品可及性问题探讨

品种匮乏的抗艾药品和居高不下的药价已成为我国防治艾滋病,保障公共健康安全的最大障碍。文章从TRIPS框架下药品可及性角度出发,探讨了中国在拓展抗艾药品获得渠道和保证社会公共健康问题上的思路及对策。     

浅析TRIPS协议与商号的保护

本文是从 WTO 历史上一个重要的知识产权案例——美国1998年综合拨款法211条款案的结论引伸出来,论述了商号是否涵盖于《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》中所规定的知识产权范畴,结合我国的理论与现实分析了我国当前商号制度的保护现状,并提出了进一步有效保护商号的对策,善意履行 WTO 义务。     

WTO关于《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》和《生物多样性公约》关系的审查进展和观点综述

TRIPS协议和《生物多样性公约》的关系是发展中国家为了扭转TRIRS协议对其严重不利的局面而提出，并在TRIPS协议中寻求解决方案的一项议题，这项议题涉及发展中国家的切身利益，受到了发展中国家的高度重视。尽管发展中国家已经成功地将这项议题纳入了TRIPS理事会的审查议程之中，但是，由于针对这项议题的解决所设计的方案遭到了以美国为首的发达国家的极力反对，因此，相关方案获得TRIPS协议认可的前景并不乐观。     

Idiosyncrasies of the Software Development Process and Their Relation to Software Patents: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence

In Europe, the future patenting of software-related inventions has been the subject of intensive discussions for some time, since there exists a strong dispute between the supporters of the U.S. practice of allowing patents in order to increase Europe's competitiveness and the opponents postulating negative impacts of patents on the software development process. This paper presents empirical results about the idiosyncrasies of the software development process and tests hypotheses on their impact on the likelihood of patents being obstacles for software dvelopment. The paper concludes with the identification of determinants for preferences concerning different possible patent regimes in the future.     

Global value chain linkages: An integrative review of the opportunities and challenges for SMEs in developing countries

This study reviews the literature on the challenges and opportunities of the global value chain (GVC) participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. A three-step approach to the literature review is used for synthesizing the relevant research works. In the end, we retain that SMEs are drivers of economic growth and despite the many challenges they face, the opportunity for developing country SMEs to benefit from their GVC linkages does exist, notably the high-quality information that they would otherwise not have access to. However there are necessary preconditions, resources and strategies that need to be put together to ensure the successful integration and growth (upgrading) of these SMEs within GVCs. The findings and proposed model contribute to enrich existing GVC research and offer a theoretical guide for possible practical measures to be adopted by SMEs and governments in developing countries.     

E-commerce in Least Developing Countries: Summary Evidence and Implications

ABSTRACT

We undertook a review and classification of research on electronic commerce (e-commerce) in developing countries. We analyzed 181 articles published in a broad range of journals covering e-commerce, global information technology, and development issues. The analysis provides a roadmap that not only indicates the current state of e-commerce for development research but also identifies gaps and priorities for future research. This will be of significant value to both academics and practitioners who are working on, or plan to work on, e-commerce in developing countries.     

Patent Standards Under TRIPS and the Pharmaceutical Industries in Brazil and India

The legal and economic environment of the pharmaceuticals industry is analyzed in the context of the development of national and international legal standards for the protection of intellectual property. Empirical studies on the relationship between intellectual property laws and economic growth are used to examine the actual outcomes under differing approaches to legal protections for the industry in two countries.     

Competition in the Pharmaceutical Industry: The Case of PAH Drugs

The nature and extent of competition between different therapies for a given medical condition often is an important and controversial issue in both antitrust cases and general strategic analysis in the pharmaceutical industry. The market for pulmonary arterial hypertension (‘PAH’) therapies provides an interesting case study for analyzing these issues. An event study analyzing how the stock prices of PAH therapy providers respond to competitive developments in the industry sheds light on the nature of competition among different types of therapies. The results support the view that the strength of competition between any two drugs for the same condition can vary greatly depending on factors such as the stage of the patient’s disease, the mode of drug delivery, the mechanism of action, convenience/ease of use and other characteristics.     

Patents and the Trans-Pacific Partnership: How TPP-style intellectual property standards may exacerbate the access to medicines problem in the East African Community

ABSTRACT

Least developed countries (LDCs) generally enjoy some exemptions under the WTO TRIPS Agreement. Despite these exemptions, patents continue to pose a major challenge to access to affordable medicines in the East African Community (EAC), especially with respect to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The EAC is a regional economic bloc made up of six states, with five of the member states currently ranked as LDCs by the United Nations. This article argues that the implementation of the patent protection standards following the model adopted in the Trans-Pacific Partnership is likely to further exacerbate the access to medicines conundrum of the EAC.     

Patents,Copyrights, and Trademarks in the Early Twenty-First Century: The New Relevance of Some Old Concepts of Intellectual Property Rights

SUMMARY

After laying an historical foundation of the concept of “promonopoly” legislation in the face of a U. S. public policy devoted, since 1890, to a generally antimonopoly position, this paper examines the relevance of recent changes in the three types of domestic promonopoly law: patent law, copyright law, and trademark law. During the last thirty years of the twentieth century, and especially during the last decade of that period, all three aspects of American promonopoly legislation were strengthened. The term of copyright was extended from a maximum of fifty-six years to the lifetime of the last-living author of a work plus seventy years and coverage was broadened to extend to recordings-by a number of means-of performances; patents were lengthened in duration from seventeen years to twenty; and the law of trademarks was modified to include protection for trademark holders against “dilution,” or loss of value of trademarks due to the acts of noncompetitors. The implications and rationales of these changes are examined in the context of their effect on business life at the beginning of the third millennium. While it is too soon since the majority of these changes in law went into effect to draw definitive conclusions concerning their ultimate consequences, it does appear that, in general, their thrust is to increase the value of intellectual property to its proprietors.     

“AIDS is Not a Business”: A Study in Global Corporate Responsibility – Securing Access to Low-cost HIV Medications

At the end of the 1990s, Brazil was faced with a potentially explosive HIV/AIDS epidemic. Through an innovative and multifaceted campaign, and despite initial resistance from multinational pharmaceutical companies, the government of Brazil was able to negotiate price reductions for HIV medications and develop local production capacity, thereby averting a public health disaster. Using interview data and document analysis, the authors show that the exercise of corporate social responsibility can be viewed in practice as a dynamic negotiation and an interaction between multiple actors. Action undertaken in terms of voluntary CSR alone may be insufficient. This finding highlights the importance of a strong role for national governments and international organizations to pressure companies to perform better. William Flanagan is the Dean of Law at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. His research interests include international trade and investment, and corporate law and corporate governance. Gail Whiteman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Business and Society of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands.     

Export Barriers and Competitiveness of Developing Economies: The Case of the Ethiopian Leather Footwear Industry

Export competitiveness is an important success factor for developing economies. However, several barriers can prevent firms from exporting. This study empirically investigates export barriers in the Ethiopian leather footwear industry. We identify 10 conceptually linked barriers that are prevalent in the industry. Whereas some of the export barriers are in line with previous research, we find several new barriers such as logistics and export marketing. On the firm level, we identify different clusters of firms that are facing specific sub-sets of barriers. Depending on cluster membership, management must focus on certain export barriers for increasing competitiveness.     

Market Development Determinants for Corporate Bonds in National Currencies: Emerging Markets Review

Our paper offers analysis of tendencies and determinants of development of local currency corporate bond markets in the period from 2006 to 2015. We consider a wide range of macroeconomic and institutional factors for 15 bond markets. The sample consists of 600 country-quarter observations. Multifactor linear regression models and the generalized method of moments are applied for the balanced panel data. Our analyses reveals that inflation and its stability, exchange rate, and market capitalization have a significant influence on the share of local currency bonds. Financial and macroeconomic instability stimulates the growth of local currency bond markets.