Tales of intellectual property in the South Pacific

Abstract

"The aim of this paper is to seek to bridge the gap between ... theoretical justifications and the local context of the Pacific islands region. In doing so, it builds upon the growing body of literature that questions the relevance and utility of intellectual property laws in developing and least developed countries, and indeed the expansionist approach to intellectual property worldwide (see The Washington Declaration on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest 2011). In particular, it contributes empirical evidence regarding countries with weak technical absorptive capabilities, which are often not explicitly considered in empirical studies of developing countries, suggesting that intellectual property rights do not affect all developing and least developed countries in the same way (see Hassan, Yaqub and Diepeveen 2010). This supports Lall’s argument that countries at different stages of development face very different economic costs and benefits from intellectual property laws (Lall 2003:1657–80). The analytical device used in this paper is the presentation of six case studies that investigate the background to the recent invocations of trademark patent, design laws and copyright by a number of local people in Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu ..." - page 1